These authors equally contributed to this work.Keywords: cell division, direct conversion, fibroblast, neuron, reprogramming, transdifferentiation Abbreviations: iPS cells, induced pluripotent stem cells; ES cells, embryonic stem cells; BAM, Brn2, Ascl1 and Myt1l; BAMCM, Brn2, Ascl1, Myt1l and cMyc; DOX, doxycycline; BrdU, bromodeoxyuridine; MEF, mouse embryonic fibroblasts.Direct lineage conversion is a promising approach for disease modeling and regenerative medicine. Cell divisions play a key role in reprogramming of somatic cells to pluripotency, however their role in direct lineage conversion is not clear. Here we used transdifferentiation of fibroblasts into neuronal cells by forced expression of defined transcription factors as a model system to study the role of cellular division in the direct conversion process. We have shown that conversion occurs in the presence of the cell cycle inhibitors aphidicolin or mimosine. Moreover, overexpression of the cell cycle activator cMyc negatively influences the process of direct conversion. Overall, our results suggest that cell divisions are not essential for the direct conversion of fibroblasts into neuronal cells.

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