Most recently, single-cell RNA-seq of human islets from non-diabetic donors, prediabetic donors and donors with type 2 diabetes has revealed progressive beta cell dedifferentiation and loss of identity markers (e.g. MafA, PDX1), coupled with increased stress response genes (e.g. DDIT3/CHOP, TXNIP) in type 2 diabetes islets [29]. Here, DDIT3 is linked to type 2 diabetes mellitus.