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XB-ART-53799
Elife 2017 Jun 27;6. doi: 10.7554/eLife.21526.
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Lineage commitment of embryonic cells involves MEK1-dependent clearance of pluripotency regulator Ventx2.

Scerbo P , Marchal L , Kodjabachian L .


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During early embryogenesis, cells must exit pluripotency and commit to multiple lineages in all germ-layers. How this transition is operated in vivo is poorly understood. Here, we report that MEK1 and the Nanog-related transcription factor Ventx2 coordinate this transition. MEK1 was required to make Xenopus pluripotent cells competent to respond to all cell fate inducers tested. Importantly, MEK1 activity was necessary to clear the pluripotency protein Ventx2 at the onset of gastrulation. Thus, concomitant MEK1 and Ventx2 knockdown restored the competence of embryonic cells to differentiate. Strikingly, MEK1 appeared to control the asymmetric inheritance of Ventx2 protein following cell division. Consistently, when Ventx2 lacked a functional PEST-destruction motif, it was stabilized, displayed symmetric distribution during cell division and could efficiently maintain pluripotency gene expression over time. We suggest that asymmetric clearance of pluripotency regulators may represent an important mechanism to ensure the progressive assembly of primitive embryonic tissues.

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Species referenced: Xenopus
Genes referenced: bmp4 cdh1 foxd4l1.1 gsc gsk3b itln1 krt12.4 map2k1 mapk1 mixer myc nodal nog pou5f3 pou5f3.2 pou5f3.3 sf1 sox2 sox3 tbxt tp53 tub tuba4b ventx1 ventx2 ventx2.2
???displayArticle.antibodies??? Myc Ab5 Tubg1 Ab7 map2k1 Ab1
???displayArticle.morpholinos??? map2k1 AGT MO1 map2k1 MO2 ventx2.1 MO2


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References [+] :
Boroviak, The birth of embryonic pluripotency. 2014, Pubmed