Histone chaperone ASF1A is required for maintenance of pluripotency and cellular reprogramming

Abstract
Factor in oocyte assists reprogramming: Unfertilized eggs contain components that can dedifferentiate other cells that have gone down the path toward a specific cell fate. Gonzalez-Muñoz et al. show that the protein-folding factor ASF1A facilitates this reprogramming event and it acts at a particular phase of germ cell division termed metaphase II. ASF1A helps turn differentiated cells such as human adult dermal fibroblasts into undifferentiated pluripotent stem cells. Science , this issue p. 822