Regulation of Reprogramming and Cellular Plasticity through Histone Exchange and Histone Variant Incorporation

Abstract

Early embryonic cells are totipotent and can generate a complete organism including embryonic and extraembryonic tissues. After division, cells lose their potency as they move toward a pluripotent state characterized by decreased cellular plasticity. During this transition, drastic changes in transcriptional programs occur in parallel with global chromatin reorganization. The epigenetic mechanisms governing the changes in chromatin signatures during the transitions of cellular plasticity states are starting to be understood. Among these mechanisms, recent studies highlight the importance of histone variant incorporation and/or eviction from chromatin in the regulation of the chromatin state that is linked to cellular potential. In this review, we discuss the role of histone variants during in vivo and in vitro reprogramming events. These results sustain the hypothesis that histone variants and histone exchange are key actors in the establishment of cellular plasticity programs.