ArticleScience advances2025
CRISPRa-mediated disentanglement of the Dux-MERVL axis in the 2C-like state, totipotency, and cell death.
Article in Science advances, 2025. The graph could read no effect estimate from its abstract, so it casts no vote on the map. Cited by 2 papers.
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Who cites it
2 citing papers in PubMed.
- Transposable element regulation in mammalian germ cells and other contexts: multilayered repression, fertility, and regulated activation.Epigenomics · 2026Review
- Ints7 deficiency activates DNA damage response to elicit resurgence of endogenous retrovirus MERVL and anastasis of embryonic stem cells.Nucleic acids research · 2025Article
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Authors and funding
13 authors.
Funding
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Abstract
Transposable elements (TEs) are powerful cis-regulatory drivers of gene expression, particularly during early development when many TEs become de-repressed. MERVL elements are transiently up-regulated in mouse totipotent two-cell (2C) embryos during major zygotic genome activation (ZGA) and 2C-like cells in vitro. One of the most powerful activators of MERVL is the pioneer transcription factor, Dux. However, apparent differences lie in the requirement for Dux versus MERVL activation in embryos. Moreover, sustained Dux activation causes cell toxicity, which may or may not be linked to MERVL. Using a CRISPR activation system, we unpick the relative role of Dux and MERVL in ZGA, totipotent-like characteristics, and cell toxicity. We find that MERVL activation drives a portion of the Dux-dependent transcriptome, sufficient for expanded fate potential, but not other totipotency features. Conversely, Dux-induced pathology is independent of MERVL activation and involves the proapoptotic factor, Noxa. Our study highlights the complexity of the Dux-MERVL transcriptional network and uncovers a previously unknown player in Dux-driven pathology.
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