Figure 1
From: Investigating cellular identity and manipulating cell fate using induced pluripotent stem cells
Hierarchical potential of stem cell development. A totipotent cell, such as a zygote and a blastomere of an early pre-implantation embryo, can give rise to all of the cell types in the whole body and the extraembryonic tissues. During mammalian development, pluripotent cells of the inner cell mass differentiate to give rise to lineage-committing stem cells and progenitor cells, and finally terminally differentiated cells by losing differential potential. Embryonic stem (ES) cells are spun off directly from the inner cell mass of blastocysts and induced pluripotent stem (iPS) cells are generated by reprogramming differentiated cells back to the pluripotent state. ES cells and iPS cells seem to have highly similar pluripotential properties.