Wei Cui
University of Massachusetts, MA·Biology
A fertilized egg must copy its entire genome correctly before its first cell division. Errors at this step can stop development or cause early pregnancy loss.
- Fields
Biology
Genetics
- Topics
DNA replication
MCM2-7 helicase
replication licensing
- Grants
- 1 known grant, through Apr 2028
What they work on
- Define how loss of maternal MCM4, part of the helicase that unwinds DNA for copying, blocks zygotic DNA replication, using oocyte-specific Mcm4 knockout mice and EdU labeling of new DNA.
- Determine how replication-deficient Mcm4 knockout zygotes still enter mitosis and cleave, and whether cell-cycle checkpoints are bypassed, using live imaging and immunofluorescence.
- Characterize the epigenetic and transcriptional effects of losing maternal MCM4, including chromatin changes and zygotic genome activation in early mouse embryos, using RNA-seq.
More about the research
In mammals, this first round of DNA copying relies entirely on proteins the mother stored in the egg while it formed, because the embryo has not yet started reading its own genes. One key stored factor is the MCM2-7 complex, a helicase, which is a molecular machine that unwinds DNA so it can be copied. Its role in the egg-to-embryo transition had never been tested directly in a living animal.
Why it matters
Developmental arrest, infertility and early embryonic loss often have unclear causes. Showing how a mother-supplied DNA replication factor protects the embryo's first divisions could help explain some of these failures. In the long term, this knowledge may inform strategies to improve reproductive outcomes.
Known grants
From NIH and NSF research grants. Labs often have other funding we can't see.
Closest labs
Upasna Sharma
University of California-Santa Cruz, CA·Biology
Determine whether Mettl7a1, a predicted RNA methyltransferase that adds methyl tags to RNA, is needed for minor zygotic genome activation and normal early development in mouse preimplantation embryos.
Venkatesan Sundaresan
University of California-Davis, CA·Plant Science & Agriculture
Generate diploid, unrecombined gametes in maize by editing multiple genes required for cell division and meiosis, testing whether cis-regulatory elements are conserved between meiosis and mitosis.
Michael Lampson
University of Pennsylvania, PA·Genetics
Test whether maternal proteins that activate the paternal genome mismatch with fast-evolving paternal transposons, causing abnormal gene expression in hybrid mouse embryos, using transcriptional and epigenomic profiling of 2-cell embryos.
The school
University of Massachusetts: 28 labs on PI Pages, $282M a year on research, 337 research doctorates a year.
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