Embryonic stem cells are a type of pluripotent stem cell with high developmental potential.A minority of embryonic stem cells highly express genes of the 2-cell embryo during early development.However,these 2-cell genes are silenced in most embryonic stem cells.The silencing factors of these 2-cell genes are still incompletely understood.This study finds that the thioredoxin interacting protein Txnip is a key factor which can repress 2-cell embryo marker genes such as Zscan4 and MERVL in embryonic stem cells.Depletion of Txnip with shRNA or knockout of Txnip with CRISPR/Cas9 does not affect pluripotency but can activate the expression of 2-cell embryo marker genes such as Zscan4 and MERVL.This study has laid the foundation for future studies of the mechanism of Txnip function in embryonic stem cells.
维普
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