Cell Conversion Shortcuts Mapped with Predictive System

In the cell-fate conversion landscape, the road less traveled is transdifferentiation, even though it is the straighter path between one cell type and another. The more circuitous route, up to pluripotency and then down again, is better trod, in part because the pluripotency-inducing conversion factors—Oct3/Oct4, Sox2, c-Myc, and Klf4—are so well known.

In contrast, conversion factors that would open up cell-conversion shortcuts tend to be off the beaten path. Only a few have been identified, mostly because finding them entails exhaustive trial-and-error testing. But if these factors could be found systematically, that might make all the difference to regenerative medicine.