During the migration of primordial germ cells (PGCs) to the genital ridge and during gonadal development, the stepwise erasure of DNA methylation and histone dimethylation marks ensures PGC totipotency and prevents the accumulation of epimutations. On p. 2892, Yoshiyuki Seki and co-workers explore the mechanisms underlying genome-wide epigenetic reprogramming in mouse PGCs by investigating the dynamics of epigenetic modifications in transposable elements. CpG methylation is markedly decreased in short interspersed nuclear elements (SINEs) in migrating PGCs, they report, but not in long interspersed nuclear elements (LINEs). By contrast, CpGs are rapidly demethylated in both SINEs and LINEs in gonadal PGCs. Four major factors that maintain DNA and histone methylation during DNA replication (and whose inhibition is associated with replication-dependent passive demethylation) are repressed at distinct stages of PGC development, they report, and DNA demethylation of transposable elements is disturbed in PGCs in which proliferation is impaired. These and other results suggest that PGCs use both active enzyme-catalysed DNA demethylation and passive demethylation for genome-wide epigenetic reprogramming.
Rubbing out epigenetic marks in PGCs
Rubbing out epigenetic marks in PGCs. Development 15 July 2013; 140 (14): e1403. doi:
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