Epigenetic Control of Early Mouse Development

Although the genes sequentially transcribed in the mammalian embryo prior to implantation have been identified, understanding of the molecular processes ensuring this transcription is still in development. The genomes of the sperm and egg are hypermethylated, hence transcriptionally silent. Their union, in the prepared environment of the egg, initiates their epigenetic genomic reprogramming into a totipotent zygote, in which the genome gradually becomes transcriptionally activated. During gametogenesis, sex-specific processes result in sperm and eggs with disparate epigenomes, both of which require drastic reprogramming to establish the totipotent genome of the zygote and the pluripotent inner cell mass of the blastocyst. Herein, we describe the factors, DNA and histone modifications, activation and repression of retrotransposons, and cytoplasmic localizations, known to influence the activation of the mammalian genome at the initiation of new life.