TY - JOUR TI - A Myt1 family transcription factor defines neuronal fate by repressing non-neuronal genes AU - Lee, Joo AU - Taylor, Caitlin A AU - Barnes, Kristopher M AU - Shen, Ao AU - Stewart, Emerson V AU - Chen, Allison AU - Xiang, Yang K AU - Bao, Zhirong AU - Shen, Kang A2 - Bronner, Marianne E A2 - Hobert, Oliver A2 - Murray, John Isaac VL - 8 PY - 2019 DA - 2019/08/06 SP - e46703 C1 - eLife 2019;8:e46703 DO - 10.7554/eLife.46703 UR - https://doi.org/10.7554/eLife.46703 AB - Cellular differentiation requires both activation of target cell transcriptional programs and repression of non-target cell programs. The Myt1 family of zinc finger transcription factors contributes to fibroblast to neuron reprogramming in vitro. Here, we show that ztf-11 (Zinc-finger Transcription Factor-11), the sole Caenorhabditis elegans Myt1 homolog, is required for neurogenesis in multiple neuronal lineages from previously differentiated epithelial cells, including a neuron generated by a developmental epithelial-to-neuronal transdifferentiation event. ztf-11 is exclusively expressed in all neuronal precursors with remarkable specificity at single-cell resolution. Loss of ztf-11 leads to upregulation of non-neuronal genes and reduced neurogenesis. Ectopic expression of ztf-11 in epidermal lineages is sufficient to produce additional neurons. ZTF-11 functions together with the MuvB corepressor complex to suppress the activation of non-neuronal genes in neurons. These results dovetail with the ability of Myt1l (Myt1-like) to drive neuronal transdifferentiation in vitro in vertebrate systems. Together, we identified an evolutionarily conserved mechanism to specify neuronal cell fate by repressing non-neuronal genes. KW - ZTF-11 KW - Myt1 KW - neurogenesis KW - MuvB complex KW - transcriptional repression KW - neuronal differentiation JF - eLife SN - 2050-084X PB - eLife Sciences Publications, Ltd ER -