Abstract
Multipotent skin-derived stem cells represent neural-crest derived precursors which have neural and mesodermal potency and can generate neurons, glias, smooth muscle cells, and adipocytes. Transcriptional profiling studies show that both intrinsic programs and extrinsic signaling pathways mediate their neural and mesodermal potency. In addition, recent progress implies that skin-derived stem cells may have a broader developmental potency than previously expected, of which is their potential to generate germline cells in vitro. In this review, we discuss the transcriptional profiling of multipotency and neural crest-derived characteristics of skin-derived stem cells, and argue for their potential germ-line competency in the view of nuclear and cellular reprogramming.