Chromodomain on Y-like (CDYL) is a chromodomain protein that has sequence 
homology to members of the enoyl CoA hydratase family. Although the chromodomain 
of CDYL has been implicated in chromatin remodeling during mammalian 
spermatogenesis, the function of the Cdyl gene remains unclear. Recently, 
induced pluripotent stem cells (iPS cells) have been derived from somatic cells 
by the forced expression of several transcription factors. iPS cells resemble 
embryonic stem cells in many respects. Therefore, iPS cells represent a powerful 
tool for the study of gene function. In this study, we have investigated whether 
iPS cells derived from Cdyl-/- and Cdyl+/+ fibroblasts have different 
characteristics. Our results showed that both Cdyl-/- and Cdyl+/+ fibroblasts 
could be induced to become iPS cells, but the spontaneous neuronal 
differentiation capacity of Cdyl-/- iPS cells was much greater than that of the 
Cdyl+/+ iPS cells. These results provide some insight into the molecular 
function of the Cdyl gene, showing that it inhibited the neuronal 
differentiation of iPS cells.