Ryan T. Wagner

The paper investigates the role of Dux and MERVL in ZGA, totipotency, and cell toxicity using CRISPRa and a 2C-GFP reporter system, finding that MERVL activation contributes to expanded fate potential but not all totipotency features, while Dux-induced toxicity is independent of MERVL and involves Noxa.

This study shows that nucleolar maturation and rRNA synthesis are required to repress Dux and exit the 2-cell stage in embryos.