Journal
NATURE CELL BIOLOGY
Volume 5, Issue 11, Pages 959-966Publisher
NATURE PUBLISHING GROUP
DOI: 10.1038/ncb1053
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Funding
- NHLBI NIH HHS [HL65572] Funding Source: Medline
- NIA NIH HHS [AG09521, AG20961] Funding Source: Medline
- NICHD NIH HHS [HD18179] Funding Source: Medline
- EUNICE KENNEDY SHRIVER NATIONAL INSTITUTE OF CHILD HEALTH &HUMAN DEVELOPMENT [R01HD018179] Funding Source: NIH RePORTER
- NATIONAL HEART, LUNG, AND BLOOD INSTITUTE [R01HL065572] Funding Source: NIH RePORTER
- NATIONAL INSTITUTE ON AGING [R01AG009521, R37AG009521, R01AG020961] Funding Source: NIH RePORTER
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Heterokaryons are the product of cell fusion without subsequent nuclear or chromosome loss. Decades of research using Sendaivirus or polyethylene glycol (PEG)-mediated fusion in tissue culture showed that the terminally differentiated state of a cell could be altered. But whether stable non-dividing heterokaryons could occur in animals has remained unclear. Here, we show that green fluorescent protein (GFP)-positive bone-marrow-derived cells (BMDCs) contribute to adult mouse Purkinje neurons through cell fusion. The formation of heterokaryons increases in a linear manner over 1.5 years and seems to be stable. The dominant Purkinje neurons caused the BMDC nuclei within the resulting heterokaryons to enlarge, exhibit dispersed chromatin and activate a Purkinje neuron-specific transgene, L7-GFP. The observed reprogrammed heterokaryons that form in brain may provide insights into gene regulation associated with cell-fate plasticity.
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