Although still at a nascent stage, the field of direct somatic lineage reprogramming has already attracted a lot of attention. From a biological standpoint, it may become a new method in the developmental and molecular biology toolbox. It offers a new way to interrogate transcription factor function independent of the physiological environment, and to study the complex interplay between sequence-specific transcriptional regulators and various repressive and active chromatin states, as well as the recruitment of their underlying chromatin-modifying enzymes. Moreover, the generation of iN cells represents a novel way to study the mechanisms of cell fate decisions of neural development and postmitotic neuronal maturation. In addition, the use of human iN cells provides an avenue for studying human developmental processes in live cultures, which may enable the discovery of species-specific differences relative to the much better studied model organisms.
