Hybridization led to a rewired pluripotency network in the allotetraploid Xenopus laevis.

ABSTRACT: After fertilization, maternally contributed factors to the egg initiate the transition to pluripotency to give rise to embryonic stem cells, in large part by activating de novo transcription from the embryonic genome. Diverse mechanisms coordinate this transition across animals, suggesting that pervasive regulatory remodeling has shaped the earliest stages of development. Here, we show that maternal homologs of mammalian pluripotency reprogramming factors OCT4 and SOX2 divergently activate the two subgenomes of Xenopus laevis, an allotetraploid that arose from hybridization of two diploid species ~18 million years ago. Although most genes have been retained as two homeologous copies, we find that a majority of them undergo asymmetric activation in the early embryo. Chromatin accessi

SUBMITTER: Phelps WA 

PROVIDER: S-EPMC10569791 | biostudies-literature | 2023 Oct

REPOSITORIES: biostudies-literature