Snapshots of Pluripotency

Pluripotency is a unique developmental state that lays the foundation upon which the entire embryo is built. Pluripotent cells possess the unique capacity to generate, in an exquisitely defined sequence, all the distinct cell types comprising the fetal and adult organism. The discovery of pluripotent stem cells and now the ability to generate them from differentiated cells has had a profound impact on a vast array of scientific disciplines. In addition to their clinical potential as a source of therapeutic cell types, pluripotent stem cells provide scalable access to otherwise experimentally inaccessible development- and disease-associated biology. Here I provide my perspective on the continuum of pluripotency in the early mammalian embryo. I also discuss how novel genomic technologies are now enabling the capture of molecular “snapshots” of the several distinct pluripotent states that stem cells undergo during this pivotal developmental period.