Resetting histone modifications during human parental-to-zygotic transition

• DOI: 10.1126/science.aaw5118
• Publication Date: 2019-07-04T23:05:49Z
• Authors: Weikun Xia; Jiawei Xu; Guang Yu; Guidong Yao; Kai Xu; Xueshan Ma; Nan Zhang; Bofeng Liu; Tong Li; Zili Lin; Xia Chen; Lijia Li; Qiujun Wang; Dayuan Shi; Senlin Shi; Yile Zhang; Wenyan Song; Haixia Jin; Linli Hu; Zhiqin Bu; Yang Wang; Jie Na; Wei Xie; Ying-Pu Sun
• Keywords: H3K4me3; Histone Methylation; Histone code

Histone modifications regulate gene expression and development. To address how they are reprogrammed in human early development, we investigated key histone marks oocytes embryos. Unlike that mouse oocytes, the permissive mark trimethylated H3 lysine 4 (H3K4me3) largely exhibits canonical patterns at promoters oocytes. After fertilization, prezygotic genome activation (pre-ZGA) embryos acquire chromatin widespread H3K4me3 CpG-rich regulatory regions. By contrast, repressive H3K27me3 undergoes global depletion. regions then resolve to either active or repressed states upon ZGA, followed by subsequent restoration of developmental genes. Finally, combining transcriptome maps, revealed transcription circuitry asymmetric patterning during lineage specification. Collectively, our data unveil a priming phase connecting parental-to-zygotic epigenetic transition.