PT  - JOURNAL ARTICLE
AU  - Turelli, Priscilla
AU  - Playfoot, Christopher
AU  - Grun, Dephine
AU  - Raclot, Charlène
AU  - Pontis, Julien
AU  - Coudray, Alexandre
AU  - Thorball, Christian
AU  - Duc, Julien
AU  - Pankevich, Eugenia V.
AU  - Deplancke, Bart
AU  - Busskamp, Volker
AU  - Trono, Didier
TI  - Primate-restricted KRAB zinc finger proteins and target retrotransposons control gene expression in human neurons
AID  - 10.1126/sciadv.aba3200
DP  - 2020 Aug 01
TA  - Science Advances
PG  - eaba3200
VI  - 6
IP  - 35
4099  - http://advances.sciencemag.org/content/6/35/eaba3200.short
4100  - http://advances.sciencemag.org/content/6/35/eaba3200.full
SO  - Sci Adv2020 Aug 01; 6
AB  - In the first days of embryogenesis, transposable element–embedded regulatory sequences (TEeRS) are silenced by Kruppel-associated box (KRAB) zinc finger proteins (KZFPs). Many TEeRS are subsequently co-opted in transcription networks, but how KZFPs influence this process is largely unknown. We identify ZNF417 and ZNF587 as primate-specific KZFPs repressing HERVK (human endogenous retrovirus K) and SVA (SINE-VNTR-Alu) integrants in human embryonic stem cells (ESCs). Expressed in specific regions of the human developing and adult brain, ZNF417/587 keep controlling TEeRS in ESC-derived neurons and brain organoids, secondarily influencing the differentiation and neurotransmission profile of neurons and preventing the induction of neurotoxic retroviral proteins and an interferon-like response. Thus, evolutionarily recent KZFPs and their TE targets partner up to influence human neuronal differentiation and physiology.