A set of genes critical to development is epigenetically poised in mouse germ cells from fetal stages through completion of meiosis
Abstract
Germ cells, meaning the mature sperm and egg and their developmental precursors, carry the DNA that is passed from one generation to the next. Although the sperm and egg are highly specialized, differentiated cells, they meet at fertilization to produce a totipotent zygote, a cell that can generate any other cell type. We report the finding that a set of developmentally important genes is kept in a "poised" state in the germ cells: although these genes are never expressed in the germ cells themselves, they maintain a chromatin state usually associated with the potential for rapid gene activation. We propose that maintenance of this poised state in the germ cells contributes to the generation of totipotency in the fertilized zygote.
- Publication:
-
Proceedings of the National Academy of Science
- Pub Date:
- October 2013
- DOI:
- 10.1073/pnas.1315204110
- Bibcode:
- 2013PNAS..11016061L