Lower genomic stability of induced pluripotent stem cells reflects increased non-homologous end joining

Background Induced pluripotent stem cells (iPSCs) and embryonic stem cells (ESCs) share many common features, including similar morphology, gene expression and in vitro differentiation profiles. However, genomic stability is much lower in iPSCs than in ESCs. In the current study, we examined whether changes in DNA damage repair in iPSCs are responsible for their greater tendency towards mutagenesis.