{
  "id": 6245931,
  "title": "BCOR mutations establish a persistent culture-adaptive state in human induced pluripotent stem cells",
  "url": "https://urgent.news/2026/09/07/bcor-mutations-establish-a-persistent-culture-adaptive-state-in-human",
  "topic": "science",
  "section": "Science",
  "published": "2026-09-07T00:00:00.000Z",
  "source": {
    "name": "bioRxiv",
    "slug": "biorxiv",
    "url": "https://www.biorxiv.org/content/10.64898/2026.09.04.739550v1?rss=1"
  },
  "original_language": "en",
  "account": "Human induced pluripotent stem cells (hiPSCs) play a crucial role in disease modelling and regenerative medicine, relying on molecular integrity during long-term culture. BCOR mutations, prevalent culture-acquired alterations, have uncertain functional consequences. This study reveals that hiPSC BCOR mutations predominantly consist of truncating indels in exon 7, forming a distinct mutational landscape from cancer. Multi-omics profiling uncovers that BCOR loss triggers extensive chromatin, transcriptomic, and proteomic remodeling, activating developmental, pluripotency-associated, and mitochondrial metabolism programs concurrently. To enable regular monitoring, a cost-effective TaqMan qPCR assay is developed to identify BCOR-mutant hiPSCs consistently across independent cell lines. Notably, correcting BCOR mutations via CRISPR-Cas9 only partially restores the wild-type molecular state, emphasizing the significance of early detection and continuous monitoring of adaptive mutations in hiPSC cultures.",
  "summary": "Human induced pluripotent stem cells (hiPSCs) are widely used for disease modelling and regenerative medicine, yet their utility depends on maintaining molecular integrity during long-term culture. BCOR (BCL6 Co-Repressor) mutations are among the most recurrent culture-acquired alterations in hiPSCs, but their functional consequences remain poorly understood. Here, we show that hiPSC BCOR…",
  "key_points": [],
  "editors_take": null,
  "illustration": null,
  "coverage": {
    "outlets": 2,
    "also_reported_by": [
      {
        "outlet": "bioRxiv",
        "title": "Differentiation of KISS1-Expressing Cells from Human Pluripotent Stem Cells: Many Roads To Rome",
        "url": "https://urgent.news/2026/09/08/differentiation-of-kiss1-expressing-cells-from-human-pluripotent-stem",
        "published": "2026-09-08T00:00:00.000Z"
      }
    ]
  },
  "ai_generated": true,
  "disclaimer": "Summaries, key points and the editor’s take are written by software from other outlets’ reporting and may contain errors — always check the linked original."
}