ESE-1 in Early Development: Approaches for the Future

E26 transformation-specific (Ets) family of transcription factors are characterized by the presence of Ets-DNA binding domain and have been found to be highly involved in hematopoiesis and various tissue differentiation. ESE-1, or Elf3 in mice, is a member of epithelium-specific Ets sub-family which is most prominently expressed in epithelial tissues such as the gut, mammary gland, and lung. The role of ESE-1 during embryogenesis had long been alluded from 30% fetal lethality in homozygous knockout mice and its high expression in preimplantation mouse embryos, but there has been no in-depth of analysis of ESE-1 function in early development. With improved proteomics, gene editing tools and increasing knowledge of ESE-1 function in adult tissues, we hereby propose future research directions for the study of ESE-1 in embryogenesis, including studying its regulation at the protein level and at the protein family level, as well as better defining the developmental phase under investigation. Understanding the role of ESE-1 in early development will provide new insights into its involvement in tissue regeneration and cancer, as well as how it functions with other Ets factors as a protein family.