MOLECULAR REGULATION OF STEM CELL DIFFERENTIATION THROUGH EPIGENOMIC AND TRANSCRIPTOMIC CHANGES

Abstract

Stem cell differentiation is a highly controlled biological mechanism, through which pluripotent and multipotent cells can differentiate into the specific cell types to play an essential role in development, tissue repair and in regenerative medicine. It is regulated by complicated molecular processes, and epigenomic and transcriptomic regulation can be considered some of the determinants of cell fate choice. Epigenomic changes such as DNA methylation, histone changes, and chromatin remodeling, have an effect on chromatin structure and accessibility of genes. Simultaneously, transcriptomic dynamics including mRNA, non-coding RNA and alternative splicing expression regulate the pattern of gene expression that is critical to specification of lineage. The emergence of high-throughput sequencing and multi-omics technologies recently has made it possible to analyze these regulatory layers in a comprehensive way and has shown that these interactions between chromatin states and transcriptional programs are complex. Combined epigenomic-transcriptomic studies have made a great contribution to our knowledge on the differentiation of stem cells and complexity of regulatory networks. Nevertheless, there are still difficulties related to data integration, interpretation and provision of causal relations between regulation mechanisms. The paper is an overview of what is known today regarding the molecular basis of stem cell differentiation, with a particular focus on epigenomic and transcriptomic interactions. It also outlines the emerging multi-omics approaches and talks about future trends that one should look, such as advanced computational tools and epigenome editing, to ensure specificity in the regenerative medicine and therapeutic fields.