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Updated: May 16, 2025

Chromatin Immunoprecipitation Assay for Tissue-specific Genes using Early-stage Mouse Embryos
Published on: April 29, 2011
Epigenome dynamics in early mammalian embryogenesis
Adam Burton1, Maria-Elena Torres-Padilla2,3
1Institute of Epigenetics and Stem Cells (IES), Helmholtz Zentrum München, München, Germany.
Abstract:
During early embryonic development in mammals, the totipotency of the zygote - which is reprogrammed from the differentiated gametes - transitions to pluripotency by the blastocyst stage, coincident with the first cell fate decision. These changes in cellular potency are accompanied by large-scale alterations in the nucleus, including major transcriptional, epigenetic and architectural remodelling, and the establishment of the DNA replication programme. Advances in low-input genomics and loss-of-function methodologies tailored to the pre-implantation embryo now enable these processes to be studied at an unprecedented level of molecular detail in vivo. Such studies have provided new insights into the genome-wide landscape of epigenetic reprogramming and chromatin dynamics during this fundamental period of pre-implantation development.
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