Stem cell pluripotency and transcription factor Oct4

Mammalian cell totipotency is a subject that has fascinated scientists for generations. A long lastingquestion whether some of the somatic cells retains totipotency was answered by the cloning of Dolly atthe end of the 20th century. The dawn of the 21st has brought forward great expectations in harnessingthe power of totipotentcy in medicine. Through stem cell biology, it is possible to generate any parts ofthe human body by stem cell engineering. Considerable resources will be devoted to harness the untappedpotentials of stem cells in the foreseeable future which may transform medicine as we know today. At themolecular level, totipotency has been linked to a singular transcription factor and its expression appearsto define whether a cell should be totipotent. Named Oct4, it can activate or repress the expression ofvarious genes. Curiously, very little is known about Oct4 beyond its ability to regulate gene expression. Themechanism by which Oct4 specifies totipotency remains entirely unresolved. In this review, we summarizethe structure and function of Oct4 and address issues related to Oct4 function in maintaining totipotencyor pluripotency of embryonic stem cells.