ArticleNature genetics2023
Transcription of MERVL retrotransposons is required for preimplantation embryo development.
Article in Nature genetics, 2023. The graph could read no effect estimate from its abstract, so it casts no vote on the map. Cited by 90 papers.
What it found
Each row is one number read from the abstract, on the scale the paper reported it, with its interval. Left of the dashed line favours the treatment, right favours the comparator. Under each row is the sentence it came from. New to these charts? A ten-minute tutorial.
The abstract states no effect estimate the extractor could read, or names no intervention and outcome on the map, so this paper lights no cell and moves no belief. It is still indexed, cited and linked below.
The trial behind it
Trials whose registry record cites this paper, or whose number appears in the abstract. A trial that started after this paper was published is citing it as background, not reporting it.
Neither the registry nor the abstract names a trial number. If this is a trial report, that itself is worth knowing.
Who cites it
90 citing papers in PubMed, 135 citations in OpenAlex.
- CtBP1/2 restrict DUX-dependent and independent 2C-like programs in mouse embryonic stem cells.EMBO reports · 2026Article
- High-throughput functional characterization of enhancers in totipotent-like cells.Nature communications · 2026Article
- High-resolution mapping of embryonic genome activation unveils a decoupling of transcription activation from precocious H3K4me3 removal.Science advances · 2026Article
- Ovarian and follicular culture enables the production of fertile oocytes in C57BL/6 mice.The Journal of reproduction and development · 2026Article
- Recurrent ZC3H18 mutations stabilize oncogenic endogenous retroviral RNA.Cell reports · 2026Article
- Virus-Derived Domesticated Genes in Microglia and Resident Macrophages: Insights into Placenta-Driven Evolution in Mammals.International journal of molecular sciences · 2026Review
- Transposable element regulation in mammalian germ cells and other contexts: multilayered repression, fertility, and regulated activation.Epigenomics · 2026Review
- Review
- IAPEz retrotransposons regulate the first lineage segregation in mouse pre-implantation development.Nucleic acids research · 2026Article
- Host-transposable element coexistence: a matter of resistance, tolerance and trade-off.The EMBO journal · 2026Review
- Dynamic regulation of H3K9 dimethylation drives mouse minor zygotic genome activation.Nature structural & molecular biology · 2026Article
- Selective cellular localization of UHRF1 safeguards mammalian zygotic genome activation and early embryonic development.Cell discovery · 2026Article
- Host-transposon mutualism supports regeneration in planarians.Developmental cell · 2026Article
- Transposable element-mediated evolutionary expansion of Sox2- and Brn2-binding regulatory modules for mammalian neural-cell differentiation.Genome biology · 2026Article
- Multiomic Profiling Reveals the Regulation of Many Immune-Related Genes by PU.1 in Porcine Alveolar Macrophages.Animals : an open access journal from MDPI · 2026Article
- Oocyte vitrification disrupts zygotic genome activation in embryos by impairing maternal spliceosome translation and Crxos splicing.PLoS genetics · 2026Article
- mThe EMBO journal · 2026Article
- Polycomb repressive-deubiquitinase complex safeguards oocyte epigenome and female fertility by restraining Polycomb activity.Nature communications · 2026Article
- miR-203 facilitates timely cell fate transitions via epigenetic modulation during early embryogenesis.Science advances · 2026Article
- Integrated small and long RNA sequencing reveals piRNA mediated transposon repression during human oogenesis.Nature communications · 2026Article
30 more citing papers are in PubMed but not listed here.
Corrections and comments
PubMed lists nothing against this paper. Absence here is not a guarantee, only a check that was made.
Authors and funding
8 authors at 1 institution in 1 country.
Funding
No grant is acknowledged in the PubMed record.
Abstract
Zygotic genome activation (ZGA) is a critical postfertilization step that promotes totipotency and allows different cell fates to emerge in the developing embryo. MERVL (murine endogenous retrovirus-L) is transiently upregulated at the two-cell stage during ZGA. Although MERVL expression is widely used as a marker of totipotency, the role of this retrotransposon in mouse embryogenesis remains elusive. Here, we show that full-length MERVL transcripts, but not encoded retroviral proteins, are essential for accurate regulation of the host transcriptome and chromatin state during preimplantation development. Both knockdown and CRISPRi-based repression of MERVL result in embryonic lethality due to defects in differentiation and genomic stability. Furthermore, transcriptome and epigenome analysis revealed that loss of MERVL transcripts led to retention of an accessible chromatin state at, and aberrant expression of, a subset of two-cell-specific genes. Taken together, our results suggest a model in which an endogenous retrovirus plays a key role in regulating host cell fate potential.
Indexed as
Identifiers
What Socratic holds
Registered trials
Read under generation 80e0d062 · epoch 390. Bibliography from PubMed, PubMed Central and OpenAlex; grants from NIH RePORTER; trial links from ClinicalTrials.gov; estimates, votes and beliefs from the Socratic graph.