1. Developmental Biology
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Zfp281 is essential for mouse epiblast maturation through transcriptional and epigenetic control of Nodal signaling

  1. Xin Huang
  2. Sophie Balmer
  3. Fan Yang
  4. Miguel Fidalgo
  5. Dan Li
  6. Diana Guallar
  7. Anna-Katerina Hadjantonakis  Is a corresponding author
  8. Jianlong Wang  Is a corresponding author
  1. Icahn School of Medicine at Mount Sinai, United States
  2. Memorial Sloan Kettering Cancer Center, United States
Research Article
  • Cited 11
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Cite this article as: eLife 2017;6:e33333 doi: 10.7554/eLife.33333

Abstract

Pluripotency is defined by a cell's potential to differentiate into any somatic cell type. How pluripotency is transited during implantation, followed by lineage specification and establishment of the basic body plan is poorly understood. Here we report the transcription factor Zfp281 functions in the exit from naive pluripotency occurring coincident with pre-to-post-implantation mouse embryonic development. By characterizing Zfp281 mutant phenotypes and identifying Zfp281 gene targets and protein partners in developing embryos and cultured pluripotent stem cells, we establish critical roles for Zfp281 in activating components of the Nodal signaling pathway and lineage-specific genes. Mechanistically, Zfp281 cooperates with histone acetylation and methylation complexes at target gene enhancers and promoters to exert transcriptional activation and repression, as well as epigenetic control of epiblast maturation leading up to anterior-posterior axis specification. Our study provides a comprehensive molecular model for understanding pluripotent state progression in vivo during mammalian embryonic development.

Article and author information

Author details

  1. Xin Huang

    The Black Family Stem Cell Institute, Icahn School of Medicine at Mount Sinai, New York, United States
    Competing interests
    The authors declare that no competing interests exist.

  2. Sophie Balmer

    Developmental Biology Program, Memorial Sloan Kettering Cancer Center, New York, United States
    Competing interests
    The authors declare that no competing interests exist.
    ORCID icon "This ORCID iD identifies the author of this article:" 0000-0002-6561-552X

  3. Fan Yang

    The Black Family Stem Cell Institute, Icahn School of Medicine at Mount Sinai, New York, United States
    Competing interests
    The authors declare that no competing interests exist.

  4. Miguel Fidalgo

    The Black Family Stem Cell Institute, Icahn School of Medicine at Mount Sinai, New York, United States
    Competing interests
    The authors declare that no competing interests exist.
    ORCID icon "This ORCID iD identifies the author of this article:" 0000-0003-1134-2674

  5. Dan Li

    The Black Family Stem Cell Institute, Icahn School of Medicine at Mount Sinai, New York, United States
    Competing interests
    The authors declare that no competing interests exist.

  6. Diana Guallar

    The Black Family Stem Cell Institute, Icahn School of Medicine at Mount Sinai, New York, United States
    Competing interests
    The authors declare that no competing interests exist.

  7. Anna-Katerina Hadjantonakis

    Developmental Biology Program, Memorial Sloan Kettering Cancer Center, New York, United States
    For correspondence
    hadj@mskcc.org
    Competing interests
    The authors declare that no competing interests exist.
    ORCID icon "This ORCID iD identifies the author of this article:" 0000-0002-7580-5124

  8. Jianlong Wang

    The Black Family Stem Cell Institute, Icahn School of Medicine at Mount Sinai, New York, United States
    For correspondence
    jianlong.wang@mssm.edu
    Competing interests
    The authors declare that no competing interests exist.
    ORCID icon "This ORCID iD identifies the author of this article:" 0000-0002-1317-6457

Funding

National Institutes of Health (R01-GM095942)

  • Jianlong Wang

National Institutes of Health (R21-HD087722)

  • Jianlong Wang

New York State Department of Health (C028103)

  • Jianlong Wang

New York State Department of Health (C028121)

  • Jianlong Wang

National Institutes of Health (R01-DK084391)

  • Anna-Katerina Hadjantonakis

National Institutes of Health (P30-CA008748)

  • Anna-Katerina Hadjantonakis

New York State Department of Health (C029568)

  • Anna-Katerina Hadjantonakis

The funders had no role in study design, data collection and interpretation, or the decision to submit the work for publication.

Ethics

Animal experimentation: All mice used in this study were maintained in accordance with the guidelines of the Memorial Sloan Kettering Cancer Center (MSKCC) Institutional Animal Care and Use Committee (IACUC) under protocol number 03-12-017 (PI Hadjantonakis).

Reviewing Editor

  1. Marianne Bronner, California Institute of Technology, United States

Publication history

  1. Received: November 6, 2017
  2. Accepted: November 17, 2017
  3. Accepted Manuscript published: November 23, 2017 (version 1)
  4. Version of Record published: November 30, 2017 (version 2)

Copyright

© 2017, Huang et al.

This article is distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution License permitting unrestricted use and redistribution provided that the original author and source are credited.

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