Early programming of the oocyte epigenome temporally controls late prophase i transcription and chromatin remodelling

Paulo Navarro-Costa, Alicia McCarthy, Pedro Prudêncio, Christina Greer, Leonardo G. Guilgur, Jörg D. Becker, Julie Secombe, Prashanth Rangan, Rui G. Martinho

Research output: Contribution to journalArticlepeer-review

43 Scopus citations

Abstract

Oocytes are arrested for long periods of time in the prophase of the first meiotic division (prophase I). As chromosome condensation poses significant constraints to gene expression, the mechanisms regulating transcriptional activity in the prophase I-arrested oocyte are still not entirely understood. We hypothesized that gene expression during the prophase I arrest is primarily epigenetically regulated. Here we comprehensively define the Drosophila female germ line epigenome throughout oogenesis and show that the oocyte has a unique, dynamic and remarkably diversified epigenome characterized by the presence of both euchromatic and heterochromatic marks. We observed that the perturbation of the oocyte's epigenome in early oogenesis, through depletion of the dKDM5 histone demethylase, results in the temporal deregulation of meiotic transcription and affects female fertility. Taken together, our results indicate that the early programming of the oocyte epigenome primes meiotic chromatin for subsequent functions in late prophase I.

Original languageEnglish (US)
Article number12331
JournalNature communications
Volume7
DOIs
StatePublished - Aug 10 2016

ASJC Scopus subject areas

  • General Chemistry
  • General Biochemistry, Genetics and Molecular Biology
  • General Physics and Astronomy

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