Transdifferentiation

Transdifferentiation, also known as lineage reprogramming, is the process in which one mature somatic cell is transformed into another mature somatic cell without undergoing an intermediate pluripotent state or progenitor cell type.(a process where one type of fully developed body cell changes directly into another type of body cell, without the cell turning into a stem cell first) It is a type of metaplasia, which includes all cell fate switches, including the interconversion of stem cells.(it’s considered as a form of metaplasia, which refers to any change from one kind of cell to another, including changes involving stem cells.) Current uses of transdifferentiation include disease modeling and drug discovery and in the future may include gene therapy and regenerative medicine.(transdifferentiation is currently used in areas like understanding diseases, testing new drugs, and possibly future treatments such as gene therapy and tissue repair). The term 'transdifferentiation' was originally coined by Selman and Kafatos in 1974 to describe a change in cell properties as cuticle-producing cells became salt-secreting cells in silk moths undergoing metamorphosis.