Mammalian CDC14 control differentiation from pluripotent cells by modulating UTF1 activity on bivalent promoters

CDC14 phosphatases are critical components of the cell cycle machinery that drives exit from mitosis in yeast. However, the two mammalian paralogs, CDC14A and CDC14B, are dispensable for cell cycle progression or exit, and their function remains unclear. By generating a double Cdc14a; Cdc14b-null mouse model, we report here that CDC14 phosphatases control cell differentiation in pluripotent cells and their absence results in deficient development of the neural system. Lack of CDC14 impairs neural differentiation from embryonic stem cells (ESCs) accompanied by deficient induction of genes controlled by bivalent promoters. During ESC differentiation, CDC14 directly dephosphorylates and destabilizes Undifferentiated embryonic Transcription Factor 1 (UTF1), a critical regulator of stemness. In the absence of CDC14, increased UTF1 levels prevent the firing of bivalent promoters, resulting in defective induction of the transcriptional programs required for differentiation. These results suggest that mammalian CDC14 phosphatases function during the terminal exit from the cell cycle by modulating the transition from the pluripotent to the differentiated chromatin state, at least partially by controlling chromatin dynamics and transcription in a UTF1-dependent manner. Overall design: Wild-type, single and double Cdc14 a and b KO ESCs obtained from mice were subjected to neural differentiation protocol. Samples were collected at days 0, 2 and 7 of the differentiation protocol and subjected to RNAseq