Zygotic genome activation in vertebrates

D Jukam, SAM Shariati, JM Skotheim - Developmental cell, 2017 - cell.com
The first major developmental transition in vertebrate embryos is the maternal-to-zygotic
transition (MZT) when maternal mRNAs are degraded and zygotic transcription begins …

Chromatin control of developmental dynamics and plasticity

M Perino, GJC Veenstra - Developmental cell, 2016 - cell.com
Chromatin structure is intimately connected with gene expression and cell identity. Here we
review recent advances in the field and discuss how establishment of cell identity during …

Dynamic multifactor hubs interact transiently with sites of active transcription in Drosophila embryos

M Mir, MR Stadler, SA Ortiz, CE Hannon, MM Harrison… - Elife, 2018 - elifesciences.org
The regulation of transcription requires the coordination of numerous activities on DNA, yet
how transcription factors mediate these activities remains poorly understood. Here, we use …

Brd4 and P300 confer transcriptional competency during zygotic genome activation

SH Chan, Y Tang, L Miao, H Darwich-Codore… - Developmental cell, 2019 - cell.com
The awakening of the genome after fertilization is a cornerstone of animal development.
However, the mechanisms that activate the silent genome after fertilization are poorly …

Establishment and maintenance of heritable chromatin structure during early Drosophila embryogenesis

SA Blythe, EF Wieschaus - Elife, 2016 - elifesciences.org
During embryogenesis, the initial chromatin state is established during a period of rapid
proliferative activity. We have measured with 3-min time resolution how heritable patterns of …

mRNA poly (A)-tail changes specified by deadenylation broadly reshape translation in Drosophila oocytes and early embryos

SW Eichhorn, AO Subtelny, I Kronja, JC Kwasnieski… - Elife, 2016 - elifesciences.org
Because maturing oocytes and early embryos lack appreciable transcription,
posttranscriptional regulatory processes control their development. To better understand this …

Competition between histone and transcription factor binding regulates the onset of transcription in zebrafish embryos

SR Joseph, M Pálfy, L Hilbert, M Kumar, J Karschau… - elife, 2017 - elifesciences.org
Upon fertilization, the genome of animal embryos remains transcriptionally inactive until the
maternal-to-zygotic transition. At this time, the embryo takes control of its development and …

CBP and Gcn5 drive zygotic genome activation independently of their catalytic activity

F Ciabrelli, L Rabbani, F Cardamone, F Zenk… - Science …, 2023 - science.org
Zygotic genome activation (ZGA) is a crucial step of embryonic development. So far, little is
known about the role of chromatin factors during this process. Here, we used an in vivo RNA …

Continued activity of the pioneer factor Zelda is required to drive zygotic genome activation

SL McDaniel, TJ Gibson, KN Schulz, MF Garcia… - Molecular cell, 2019 - cell.com
Reprogramming cell fate during the first stages of embryogenesis requires that
transcriptional activators gain access to the genome and remodel the zygotic transcriptome …

The Drosophila pioneer factor Zelda modulates the nuclear microenvironment of a dorsal target enhancer to potentiate transcriptional output

S Yamada, PH Whitney, SK Huang, EC Eck, HG Garcia… - Current Biology, 2019 - cell.com
Connecting the developmental patterning of tissues to the mechanistic control of RNA
polymerase II remains a long-term goal of developmental biology. Many key elements have …