Molecular versatility during pluripotency progression

A challenge during development is to ensure lineage segregation while preserving plasticity. Using pluripotency progression as a paradigm, we review how developmental transitions are coordinated by redeployments, rather than global resettings, of cellular components. We highlight how changes in response to extrinsic cues (FGF, WNT, Activin/Nodal, Netrin-1), context- and stoichiometry-dependent action of transcription factors (Oct4, Nanog) and reconfigurations of epigenetic regulators (enhancers, promoters, TrxG, PRC) may confer robustness to naive to primed pluripotency transition. We propose the notion of Molecular Versatility to regroup mechanisms by which molecules are repurposed to exert different, sometimes opposite, functions in close stem cell configurations. During development the embryo must balance lineage specification against the preservation of plasticity using a limited molecular toolkit. In this Perspective, the authors propose Molecular Versatility as a paradigm for grouping molecular mechanisms that are repurposed through development to exert distinct functions.

Automated summary

A challenge in development is to ensure lineage segregation while preserving plasticity. This review focuses on how developmental transitions are coordinated through redeployments of cellular components. The authors propose the concept of Molecular Versatility to group mechanisms by which molecules are repurposed for different functions in stem cell configurations.