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Stella modulates transcriptional and endogenous retrovirus programs during maternal-to-zygotic transition.

ABSTRACT: The maternal-to-zygotic transition (MZT) marks the period when the embryonic genome is activated and acquires control of development. Maternally inherited factors play a key role in this critical developmental process, which occurs at the 2-cell stage in mice. We investigated the function of the maternally inherited factor Stella (encoded by Dppa3) using single-cell/embryo approaches. We show that loss of maternal Stella results in widespread transcriptional mis-regulation and a partial failure of MZT. Strikingly, activation of endogenous retroviruses (ERVs) is significantly impaired in Stella maternal/zygotic knockout embryos, which in turn leads to a failure to upregulate chimeric transcripts. Amongst ERVs, MuERV-L activation is particularly affected by the absence of Stella, and direct in vivo knockdown of MuERV-L impacts the developmental potential of the embryo. We propose that Stella is involved in ensuring activation of ERVs, which themselves play a potentially key role during early development, either directly or through influencing embryonic gene expression.

SUBMITTER: Huang Y

PROVIDER: S-EPMC5404928 | biostudies-literature | 2017 Mar

REPOSITORIES: biostudies-literature

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Stella modulates transcriptional and endogenous retrovirus programs during maternal-to-zygotic transition.

Huang Yun Y Kim Jong Kyoung JK Do Dang Vinh DV Lee Caroline C Penfold Christopher A CA Zylicz Jan J JJ Marioni John C JC Hackett Jamie A JA Surani M Azim MA

eLife 20170321

The maternal-to-zygotic transition (MZT) marks the period when the embryonic genome is activated and acquires control of development. Maternally inherited factors play a key role in this critical developmental process, which occurs at the 2-cell stage in mice. We investigated the function of the maternally inherited factor Stella (encoded by <i>Dppa3</i>) using single-cell/embryo approaches. We show that loss of maternal Stella results in widespread transcriptional mis-regulation and a partial f ...[more]

PMID: 28323615

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Project description:Robustness is a property built into biological systems to ensure stereotypical outcomes despite fluctuating inputs from gene dosage, biochemical noise, and the environment. During development, robustness safeguards embryos against structural and functional defects. Yet, our understanding of how robustness is achieved in embryos is limited. While much attention has been paid to the role of gene and signaling networks in promoting robust cell fate determination, little has been done to rigorously assay how mechanical processes like morphogenesis are designed to buffer against variable conditions. Here we show that the cell shape changes that drive morphogenesis can be made robust by mechanisms targeting the actin cytoskeleton. We identified two novel members of the Vinculin/?-Catenin Superfamily that work together to promote robustness during Drosophila cellularization, the dramatic tissue-building event that generates the primary epithelium of the embryo. We find that zygotically-expressed Serendipity-? (Sry-?) and maternally-loaded Spitting Image (Spt) share a redundant, actin-regulating activity during cellularization. Spt alone is sufficient for cellularization at an optimal temperature, but both Spt plus Sry-? are required at high temperature and when actin assembly is compromised by genetic perturbation. Our results offer a clear example of how the maternal and zygotic genomes interact to promote the robustness of early developmental events. Specifically, the Spt and Sry-? collaboration is informative when it comes to genes that show both a maternal and zygotic requirement during a given morphogenetic process. For the cellularization of Drosophilids, Sry-? and its expression profile may represent a genetic adaptive trait with the sole purpose of making this extreme event more reliable. Since all morphogenesis depends on cytoskeletal remodeling, both in embryos and adults, we suggest that robustness-promoting mechanisms aimed at actin could be effective at all life stages.

Project description:Microarray analysis of zygotic gene expression in 2-to-3 hour wild-type (wt) and smg mutant embryos. Expression is relative to mature, stage 14 oocytes, which contain the full maternal pool of mRNA. Strictly maternal genes that are not transcribed at the MZT contribute approximately 80% of transcripts in early embryos, and are not shown. Class I zygotic genes showed high levels of expression in 2-to-3 hour embryos. 142 of the 166 Class I genes were not expressed in smg mutants. The remaining zygotically expressed genes were also present in oocytes. These genes were divided into two classes, based on analysis of 4-to-6 hour old unfertilized eggs (4-6h unf), which are transcriptionally inactive. Class-II genes produce maternal transcripts that are stable in unfertilized eggs and show significantly increased expression in 2-to-3 hour post-fertilization embryos. 358 of 395 Class-II genes require SMAUG for zygotic expression. Class-III genes produce maternal transcripts that are degraded in unfertilized eggs and show significantly increased expression in 2-to-3 hour post-fertilization embryos. 65 of 408 Class-III genes require SMAUG for expression in 2-to-3 hour embryos. mRNA was extracted from staged fertilized or unfertilized eggs, as well as stage 14 oocytes as described previously (Tadros et al., 2007a). To assay mRNA quality, known stable (rpA1) and unstable (Hsp83) transcripts were probed on Northern blots. Total RNA was then reverse transcribed with random primers (Tadros et al., 2007a) and labeled asÃ?described in the Indirect Labeling of Total RNA for Microarray Hybridization protocol at http://www.flyarrays.com. The fluorescently labeled cDNA probes were hybridized to 12Kv1 microarrays obtained from the Canadian Drosophila Microarray Centre (http://www.flyarrays.com; GEO platform accession number GPL1467: http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/geo/query/acc.cgi?acc=GPL1467). Hybridization and scanning were performed using a PerkinElmer/GSI ScanArray 4000 scanner and the ScanArray software as previously described (Neal et al., 2003). The 16 bit TIFF image files were quantified using QuantArray Version 3 (PerkinElmer), using the adaptive quantification algorithm and analyzed using GeneTraffic Duo3.2 (Iobion Informatics/Stratagene). The 12Kv1 arrays were normalized using the rank invariant LOWESS extrapolation method (Schadt et al., 2001).

Dataset Information

Stella modulates transcriptional and endogenous retrovirus programs during maternal-to-zygotic transition.

Publications

Stella modulates transcriptional and endogenous retrovirus programs during maternal-to-zygotic transition.

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