Issues

Summary: This Spotlight defines the breadth and expected importance of studying the origin and evolution of chromatin on our understanding of chromatin and its impact on evolution.

Summary: This Spotlight summarizes a debate on the role of chromatin topology and liquid-liquid phase separation in regulating gene expression at a workshop organized by The Company of Biologists titled ‘Chromatin-based regulation of development’.

Summary: This Review discusses the molecular biology of PRC2, the developmental phenotypes associated with its loss of function in mice, and its crosstalk with other chromatin regulators in the context of human overgrowth syndromes.

Summary: A comprehensive Review covering the molecular mechanisms modulating the selectivity of genomic targeting for the BAF chromatin remodeling complex.

Summary: Genome organisation data are challenging to analyse and interpret. This Review provides a guide to visualisation approaches that can aid interpretation of these datasets and application to biological questions.

Summary: In this Review, we discuss emerging concepts of the various levels of epigenetic control of transcriptional regulation in the maintenance and exit from mouse pluripotency.

Summary: This Review covers how the H3K9me3 mark is established and maintained, and the modes by which it functions to regulate gene expression and cell identity during development.

Summary: Abnormal sarcomere persistence is a significant barrier to heart regeneration in zebrafish. Dampening expression of similar structural components in the human heart might improve its regenerative capacity.

Summary: Combining scRNA-seq and genetic perturbations presents a powerful tool for dissecting the role of epigenetic regulators in development and disease, and has shown that disruption of DNMTs increases cell-cell variability.

Summary: BRG1/BRM-associated factor (BAF) chromatin remodeling complexes include specific subunits during cardiac differentiation that are important for BAF complex composition and for regulating cardiac gene expression.

Summary: Overexpression or knockdown of histones results in delayed or advanced cell cycle slowing and transcriptional activation at the mid-blastula transition, respectively, with differentially expressed genes associated with specific chromatin features.

Summary: CLAMP-MSL2 and MSL2(CXC)-DNA interactions contribute cooperatively to the recruitment of the dosage compensation complex to the X chromosome in Drosophila.

Summary: During embryogenesis, heterochromatin formation and loss of developmental plasticity are regulated by distinct histone H3 lysine 9 methylation states, catalyzed by the methyltransferase MET-2, which is regulated by timed nuclear localization.

Summary: C. elegans synMuv B proteins regulate chromatin compaction preceding upregulation of zygotic gene expression to ensure proper gene repression and cell fate decisions, especially at high temperature.

Summary: Genetic manipulation of the Shh TAD results in chromatin organisation changes without effects on expression patterns or phenotypes, suggesting that Shh developmental regulation is robust to TAD perturbations.

Summary: Our unique zebrafish model of a maternal and zygotic mutant for the Polycomb group gene ezh2 reveals major conserved and divergent mechanisms in epigenetic gene repression during vertebrate development.

Summary: A shift in transcription factor regulatory networks accompanies transition of the mouse embryonic intestine to its mature form, with HNF4 paralogs required to drive expression of differentiation genes.

Summary: Analysis of transcriptome and RNA immunoprecipitation experiments indicate DND1 acts as a positive regulator of chromatin modifiers in male germ cells, linking RNA-binding proteins and epigenetic regulation.

Summary: Analysis of the function and targets of a maternal KRAB-zinc-finger protein, ZFP708, found to specifically mediate maintenance of DNA methylation at a subset of LTR retrotransposons during embryonic epigenetic reprogramming.

Summary: Epigenetic studies of BRG1 reveal for the first time that SWI/SNF and PRC1 cooperate during gametogenesis to regulate transcription.

Summary: FabLEM, an endogenous labeling technique that uses modification-specific antigen-binding fragments, is used to examine changes in histone modification levels and transcription during zygotic genome activation in live zebrafish embryos.