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Sleeping embryonic genomes are awoken by OBOX proteins

Activation of gene transcription is precisely regulated in early embryos. The identification of key transcription factors now shows how the transcription machinery is guided to the right place at the right time in mice.
  1. Edlyn Wu

    1. Edlyn Wu is in the Center for Integrative Genomics, University of Lausanne, CH-1015 Lausanne, Switzerland.

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  2. Nadine L. Vastenhouw

    1. Nadine L. Vastenhouw is in the Center for Integrative Genomics, University of Lausanne, CH-1015 Lausanne, Switzerland.

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At fertilization, the animal genome is inactive, and the earliest stages of development are driven by pre-existing proteins and RNA transcripts that have been stored in the egg. As the fertilized egg divides into two cells, developmental control is gradually handed over to the embryo. The pre-existing RNA (known as maternally loaded RNA) is degraded, and the embryonic genome (called the zygotic genome) is activated1. Writing in Nature, Ji et al.2 describe the identification of a family of transcription factors involved in kick-starting the zygotic transcription program in mice, and provide evidence that these factors have a role in targeting the transcriptional machinery to the correct genes.

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Nature 620, 956-957 (2023)

doi: https://doi.org/10.1038/d41586-023-01618-5

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Competing Interests

The authors declare no competing interests.

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