OCT4 and SOX2 display partially independent activity to regulate chromatin accessibility, and highly dynamic activity of OCT4 is required throughout the cell cycle to maintain pluripotency enhancer accessibility.
Daniela Roellig, Johanna Tan-Cabugao ... Marianne E Bronner
The vertebrate neural plate border is comprised of precursors that coexpress multiple lineage markers and small changes in their levels can bias border cell fate.
Seastar larvae can regenerate their nervous system by specifying cells to express the gene sox2 to enter neural progenitor states that then follow embryonic gene regulatory modes to form new neurons.
Christian Louis Bonatto Paese, Anna Schoenauer ... Alistair P McGregor
Sox21b-1 regulates simultaneous formation of anterior segments and addition of posterior segments in a spider, which resembles segmentation in long- and short-germ insects, and suggests SoxB regulation of segmentation is an ancestral feature of arthropods.
Müller glia cells in the medaka (Oryzias latipes) retina act as lineage restricted progenitors which only regenerate photoreceptors but can be activated to perform as potent stem cells using Sox2.
Xenopus laevis arose from hybridization of two different frog species millions of years ago, leading to adaptation of the genetic networks controlling early embryonic development and stem cell induction to balance expression between the genes inherited from each ancestor.
RNA sequencing of the African clawed frog has identified hundreds of putative direct Six1 and Eya1 target genes, including transcriptional regulators of neuronal progenitors and neuronal/sensory differentiation.
