DNA Methylation is Correlated with Pluripotency of Stem Cells

Background: Pluripotency of stem cells is an important scientific issue and is attracting great interest for the broader community, especially for regenerative medicine field. Pluripotent stem cells (PSCs) in mammalians are defined as naive- and primed-states according to their cellular, molecular, epigenetic and functional states. Objective: Understand the correlation between DNA methylation and pluripotency of stem cells. Method: Based on published papers, we discussed the DNA methylation and corresponding functions for embryonic stem cells. We also summarized the correlation between DNA methylation and naive state maintenance, and outlook future emphasis of DNA methylation for primate naive PSCs. Results and Conclusion: DNA methylation is closely associated with cell reprogramming, functional remodeling and cell differentiation of PSCs. The pluripotency and naive characteristics of PSCs are closely associated with cell DNA methylation. However, the mechanisms, which are involved in methylation modifications of naive ground, are still one of the important scientific issues for primate naive PSCs because of lack of widely accepted culture condition.