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Comment
. 2023 Jun 20;21(6):e3002153.
doi: 10.1371/journal.pbio.3002153. eCollection 2023 Jun.

The human embryo selection arena is associated with transposable element activity

Anna Osnato  1   2 , Vincent Pasque  1   2 , Laurent David  3   4
Affiliations
Comment

The human embryo selection arena is associated with transposable element activity

Anna Osnato et al. PLoS Biol. .

Abstract

Our current understanding of early human development is limited. A study in PLOS Biology found a previously undefined group of cells that diverges from the main lineages and undergo apoptosis through the activity of young transposable elements.

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Conflict of interest statement

The authors have declared that no competing interests exist.

Figures

Fig 1
Fig 1. Proposed timing of selection for REject cells during human embryo development.
REjects segregate at the blastocyst stage and undergo apoptosis at the end of 5 dpf/E5. They express the apoptosis-inducing factor BIK, genes associated with programmed cell death such as BAK1, and their selection is regulated by young transposable elements activity. The ICM is instead characterised by the activity of an old nontransposing endogenous retrovirus (HERVH) that acts to suppress young transposable elements. B1, B2, B3, blastocyst stages; BIK, BCL2-interacting killer; dpf, days post fertilisation; EPI, epiblast; HERVH, human-specific endogenous retrovirus H; ICM, inner cell mass; PrE, primitive endoderm; TE, trophectoderm; TrE, transposable elements. Figure generated using BioRender.com.
See this image and copyright information in PMC

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Grants and funding

Research in the Pasque lab is funded by The Research Foundation–Flanders (FWO; Odysseus Return Grant G0F7716N to V.P.; FWO grants G0C9320N and G0B4420N to V.P.; EOS project PANDAROME G0I7822N) and the KU Leuven Research Fund (C1 grant C14/21/19 to V.P.) and FWO fellowships. The funders had no role in study design, data collection and analysis, decision to publish, or preparation of the manuscript.