Who let the FoxO in?

Pluripotent embryonic stem cells eventually give rise to the development of a healthy organism, complete with more than 300 fully differentiated cell types. The mechanisms by which they undergo differentiation, however, are not fully understood. In a new study published in Nature Communications, first author Laura Santini, a former PhD student in the Leeb lab, investigated how naïve pluripotent stem cells execute the first cell fate decision of the early post-implantation embryo. The researchers discovered a crucial role of FoxO transcription factors in ensuring the orderly and timely shift from the naïve to the formative state during embryonic stem cell development.