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Epigenetics

Erase for a new start

Nature volume 492, pages 363–364 (2012)Cite this article

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Tet proteins regulate gene expression by removing methyl groups from DNA bases. This activity may be a facilitating step in turning on the cell-division pathway that produces sperm and egg cells. See Letter p.443

Meiosis is a type of cell division that is a key feature of sexual reproduction. Meiotic division of germ cells produces sperm and egg cells, which have only one copy of each chromosome and which fuse during fertilization to create a new organism with two copies of the genetic material. This highly orchestrated process requires the activation of a specific set of meiotic genes, but how these genes are activated at the right time and in the right place is poorly understood. On page 443 of this issue, Yamaguchi et al.1 report that Tet1, a member of the recently discovered Tet protein family, is required for the activation of meiotic genes in mouse egg cells. This is exciting because Tet proteins are involved in erasing DNA epigenetic marks, suggesting that this is a crucial mechanism in meiosis.

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. Sylvain Guibert and Michael Weber are at the UMR 7242 Biotechnology and Cell Signalling, CNRS/University of Strasbourg, 67412 Illkirch, France.,

    Sylvain Guibert & Michael Weber

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  1. Sylvain Guibert
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  2. Michael Weber
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Correspondence to Michael Weber.

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Guibert, S., Weber, M. Erase for a new start. Nature 492, 363–364 (2012). https://doi.org/10.1038/492363a

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