Spin glass model for dynamics of cell reprogramming

Recent experiments show that differentiated cells can be reprogrammed to become pluripotent stem cells [1]. The possible cell fates can be modeled as attractors in a dynamical system, the ``epigenetic landscape.'' Both cellular differentiation and reprogramming can be described in the landscape picture as motion from one attractor to another attractor. We perform Monte Carlo simulations in a simple model of the landscape [2]. This model is based on spin glass theory and it can be used to construct a simulated epigenetic landscape starting from the experimental genomic data. We re-analyse data from several cell reprogramming experiments [3-6] and compare with our simulation results. We find that the model can reproduce some of the main features of the dynamics of cell reprogramming. \\[4pt] [1] Takahashi and Yamanaka. Cell, 126:663, 2006.\\{ } [2] Alex H. Lang, Hu Li, James J. Collins, and Pankaj Mehta. PLoS Comput Biol, 10:8, 2014.\\{ } [3] Hanna et.al. Nature, 462:7273, 2009.\\{ } [4] Rais et al, Nature 502:7469, 2013.\\{ } [5] Polo et al, Cell 151:7, 2012.\\{ } [6] Fluri et.al. Nat Meth, 9:5, 2012.