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EPIGENETICS

Guardians of the oocyte methylome

Nature Reviews Molecular Cell Biology volume 20, pages 2–3 (2019)Cite this article

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The methylation state of the oocyte genome differs from that of most other cell types; for example, it is hypomethylated in regions that are transcriptionally inactive. In Nature, Li et al. now report that STELLA — a factor important for female fertility — prevents de novo DNA methylation in growing mouse oocytes and that this activity is important for embryonic development.

Whereas oocytes from D5 mice lacking STELLA had a largely normal hypomethylated genome, there was an approximately twofold increase in global methylation in oocytes from adult mice. Hypermethylation occurred in a wide range of genomic areas. Of note, regions that are transcriptionally inactive in the oocyte were aberrantly methylated. Furthermore, DNA methylation at differentially methylated regions of maternally or paternally imprinted genes was normal, indicating that STELLA does not affect the maintenance of genomic imprinting but instead restricts de novo methylation during oogenesis. Importantly, DNA hypermethylation resulting from the loss of maternal STELLA was largely maintained in the zygote and thus impaired zygotic genome activation, which arrested or led to severe defects in development.

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  • Eckersley-Maslin, M. A., Alda-Catalinas, C. & Reik, W. Dynamics of the epigenetic landscape during the maternal-to-zygotic transition. Nat. Rev. Mol. Cell Biol. 19, 436–450 (2018)

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  1. Nature Reviews Molecular Cell Biology http://www.nature.com/nrm/

    Kim Baumann

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  1. Kim Baumann
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Correspondence to Kim Baumann.

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Baumann, K. Guardians of the oocyte methylome. Nat Rev Mol Cell Biol 20, 2–3 (2019). https://doi.org/10.1038/s41580-018-0090-2

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