by National Institutes of Natural Sciences – Phys.org –
Embryonic stem (ES) cells are pluripotent stem cells that can produce all cell types of an organism. ES cells proliferate rapidly and have been thought to experience high levels of intrinsic replication stress. However, a recent report published in EMBO Reports by Kurashima and team challenge this assumption by providing a detailed molecular investigation of replication dynamics in these cells.
Led by Dr. Tomomi Tsubouchi at the National Institute for Basic Biology (NIBB) in Japan, the research team explored replication fork dynamics—such as replication fork speed, pausing frequency, and origin firing density—across different substages of the S phase. Their findings reveal previously overlooked aspects of replication not only in ES cells but also in other non-pluripotent cells.
