Phasing in heterochromatin during development.

Genes Dev

Curriculum in Genetics and Molecular Biology, University of North Carolina, Chapel Hill, North Carolina 27599, USA.

Published: April 2019

Constitutive heterochromatin is a prevalent feature of eukaryotic genomes important for promoting cell differentiation and maintaining genome stability. During animal reproduction, constitutive heterochromatin is disassembled in gametes prior to formation of the zygote and then subsequently re-established as development ensues and cells differentiate. Despite progress in understanding the mechanisms that maintain heterochromatin in differentiated cell types, how constitutive heterochromatin is assembled de novo during early development remains poorly understood. In this issue of , Seller and colleagues (pp. 403-417) develop a new technology for inhibiting maternal gene function to identify the H3K9 methyltransferase necessary for initiating constitutive heterochromatin formation during early embryogenesis.

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http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC6446546PMC
http://dx.doi.org/10.1101/gad.324731.119DOI Listing

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