Fu Xiuling, He Fangfang, Li Yuhao, Shahveranov Allahverdi, Hutchins Andrew Paul
Department of Biology, Southern University of Science and Technology of China, Shenzhen 518055, China.
Cell Regen. 2017 Nov 22;6:1-7. doi: 10.1016/j.cr.2017.09.001. eCollection 2017 Dec.
Organisms are made of a limited number of cell types that combine to form higher order tissues and organs. Cell types have traditionally been defined by their morphologies or biological activity, yet the underlying molecular controls of cell type remain unclear. The onset of single cell technologies, and more recently genomics (particularly single cell genomics), has substantially increased the understanding of the concept of cell type, but has also increased the complexity of this understanding. These new technologies have added a new genome wide molecular dimension to the description of cell type, with genome-wide expression and epigenetic data acting as a cell type 'fingerprint' to describe the cell state. Using these genomic fingerprints cell types are being increasingly defined based on specific genomic and molecular criteria, without necessarily a distinct biological function. In this review, we will discuss the molecular definitions of cell types and cell type control, and particularly how endogenous and exogenous transcription factors can control cell types and cell type conversions.
生物体由数量有限的细胞类型组成，这些细胞类型组合形成更高层次的组织和器官。传统上，细胞类型是根据其形态或生物学活性来定义的，但细胞类型的潜在分子控制机制仍不清楚。单细胞技术的出现，以及最近基因组学（特别是单细胞基因组学）的发展，极大地增进了我们对细胞类型概念的理解，但同时也增加了这种理解的复杂性。这些新技术为细胞类型的描述增添了全新的全基因组分子维度，全基因组表达和表观遗传数据作为细胞类型的“指纹”来描述细胞状态。利用这些基因组指纹，细胞类型越来越多地基于特定的基因组和分子标准来定义，而不一定具有独特的生物学功能。在这篇综述中，我们将讨论细胞类型的分子定义和细胞类型控制，特别是内源性和外源性转录因子如何控制细胞类型和细胞类型转换。
