Dr. Daria Onichtchouk

Gastrulation in vertebrates is a conserved process, which involves transition from cellular pluripotency to early precursors of germ layers. Pluripotent cell is initially developmentally unrestricted, and capable of realizing multiple cell fates. Pluripotency control in development is far from being understood. Our recent studies in zebrafish suggest that the transcription factors controlling pluripotency in mammalian ES cells, Pou5f1/Oct4 and factors of the SoxB1 group, are critically involved in large-scale coordination of gene expression during gastrulation. A significant number of evolutionary conserved target genes of Pou5f1 in zebrafish are also involved in stem-cell circuit in mammalian ES cell cultures. I am interested in further understanding the evolution and functioning of transcriptional networks of pluripotency, using zebrafish model system.

10 selected publications

• Multiomic atlas with functional stratification and developmental dynamics of zebrafish cis-regulatory elements.
  Baranasic D, Hörtenhuber M, Balwierz PJ, Zehnder T, Mukarram AK, Nepal C, Várnai C, Hadzhiev Y, Jimenez-Gonzalez A, Li N, Wragg J, D'Orazio FM, Relic D, Pachkov M, Díaz N, Hernández-Rodríguez B, Chen Z, Stoiber M, Dong M, Stevens I, Ross SE, Eagle A, Martin R, Obasaju O, Rastegar S, McGarvey AC, Kopp W, Chambers E, Wang D, Kim HR, Acemel RD, Naranjo S, Łapiński M, Chong V, Mathavan S, Peers B, Sauka-Spengler T, Vingron M, Carninci P, Ohler U, Lacadie SA, Burgess SM, Winata C, van Eeden F, Vaquerizas JM, Gómez-Skarmeta JL, Onichtchouk D, Brown BJ, Bogdanovic O, van Nimwegen E, Westerfield M, Wardle FC, Daub CO, Lenhard B, Müller F.
  Nat Genet. 2022 Jul;54(7):1037-1050.
• Pluripotency factors determine gene expression repertoire at zygotic genome activation.
  Gao M, Veil M, Rosenblatt M, Riesle AJ, Gebhard A, Hass H, Buryanova L, Yampolsky LY, Grüning B, Ulianov SV, Timmer J, Onichtchouk D.
  Nat Commun. 2022 Feb 10;13(1):788.
• Nucleolus: A Central Hub for Nuclear Functions.
  Iarovaia OV, Minina EP, Sheval EV, Onichtchouk D, Dokudovskaya S, Razin SV, Vassetzky YS.
  Trends Cell Biol. 2019 Aug;29(8):647-659.
• Pou5f3, SoxB1, and Nanog remodel chromatin on high nucleosome affinity regions at zygotic genome activation.
  Veil M, Yampolsky LY, Grüning B, Onichtchouk D.
  Genome Res. 2019 Mar;29(3):383-395.
• Maternal Nanog is required for the zebrafish embryo architecture and for cell viability during gastrulation.
  Veil M, Schaechtle MA, Gao M, Kirner VIN, Buryanova L, Grethen R, Onichtchouk D (2018).
  Development. 145(1).
• Evolution and functions of Oct4 homologs in non-mammalian vertebrates.
  Onichtchouk D. (2016).
  Biochim Biophys Acta. 1859(6):770-9.
• Zygotic genome activators, developmental timing, and pluripotency.
  Onichtchouk D, Driever W (2016).
  Curr Top Dev Biol. 116:273-97.
• DANIO-CODE: Toward an Encyclopedia of DNA Elements in Zebrafish.
  Tan H, Onichtchouk D, Winata C (2016).
  Zebrafish. 13(1): 54–60.
• A Pou5f1/Oct4 dependent Klf17, Klf2a, and Klf2b regulatory sub-network contributes to EVL and ectoderm development during zebrafish embryogenesis.
  Kotkamp K, Mössner R, Allen A, Onichtchouk D, Driever W (2014).
  Dev Biol. 385(2):433-47
• Pou5f1 transcription factor controls zygotic gene activation in vertebrates.
  Leichsenring M, Maes J, Mössner R, Driever W, Onichtchouk D (2013).
  Science. 341(6149):1005-9.
  Paper was selected for F1000Prime