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  3. Deciphering transcription activity of mammalian early embryos unveils on/off of zygotic genome activation by protein translation/degradation

Deciphering transcription activity of mammalian early embryos unveils on/off of zygotic genome activation by protein translation/degradation

  • Cell Rep. 2025 Jan 28;44(1):115215. doi: 10.1016/j.celrep.2024.115215.
Yi-Ran Zhang 1,  Shi-Meng Guo 2,  Xiao-Yan Shi 1,  Yi-Wen Ding 1,  Huai-Biao Li 1,  Lei Li 3,  Jia-Wei Xu 4,  Ximiao He 5,  Bing-Xin Ma 6,  Ying Yin 7,  Li-Quan Zhou 8
Affiliations

Affiliations

  • 1 Institute of Reproductive Health, Tongji Medical College, Huazhong University of Science and Technology, Wuhan, Hubei 430030, P.R. China.
  • 2 Chongqing Key Laboratory of Human Embryo Engineering and Precision Medicine, Center for Reproductive Medicine, Women and Children's Hospital of Chongqing Medical University, Chongqing 400012, P.R. China.
  • 3 State Key Laboratory of Stem Cell and Reproductive Biology, Institute of Zoology, Chinese Academy of Sciences, Beijing 100101, P.R. China.
  • 4 NHC Key Laboratory of Birth Defect Prevention, Zhengzhou, Henan 451163, P.R. China.
  • 5 Department of Physiology, School of Basic Medicine, Tongji Medical College, Huazhong University of Science and Technology, Wuhan, Hubei 430030, P.R. China; Hubei Key Laboratory of Drug Target Research and Pharmacodynamic Evaluation, Huazhong University of Science and Technology, Wuhan, Hubei 430030, P.R. China.
  • 6 Reproductive Medicine Center, Tongji Hospital, Tongji Medical College, Huazhong University of Science and Technology, Wuhan, Hubei 430030, P.R. China. Electronic address: mabx@tjh.tjmu.edu.cn.
  • 7 Department of Physiology, School of Basic Medicine, Tongji Medical College, Huazhong University of Science and Technology, Wuhan, Hubei 430030, P.R. China; Hubei Key Laboratory of Drug Target Research and Pharmacodynamic Evaluation, Huazhong University of Science and Technology, Wuhan, Hubei 430030, P.R. China. Electronic address: yinying@hust.edu.cn.
  • 8 Institute of Reproductive Health, Tongji Medical College, Huazhong University of Science and Technology, Wuhan, Hubei 430030, P.R. China; NHC Key Laboratory of Birth Defect Prevention, Zhengzhou, Henan 451163, P.R. China. Electronic address: zhouliquan@hust.edu.cn.
PMID: 39823229 DOI: 10.1016/j.celrep.2024.115215
Abstract

Quantification of transcription activities in mammalian preimplantation embryos is challenging due to a huge amount of maternally stored transcripts and paucity of research Materials. Here, we investigate genome-wide transcription activities of mouse and human preimplantation embryos by quantifying elongating RNA polymerase II. Two transcriptional waves are identified in early mouse embryos, with summits at the 2-cell and 8-cell stages. Gene collections with different expression patterns are obtained, with genes mainly transcribed at the mouse early/late 2-cell stage designated as zygotic genome activation-early/late 2-cell (ZGA-E2C/L2C). ZGA-E2C genes are short and have low promoter CpG density. Protein translation/degradation not only regulates transcription activity through stepwise orchestration of histone modifications, transcriptional initiation, and elongation in early mouse embryos but also controls on/off switching of ZGA-E2C/L2C genes in maternal aged mouse embryos. Genes mainly transcribed at the mouse 2-cell stage can also be transcribed as early as the human 2-cell stage.

Keywords

CP: Developmental biology; CP: Molecular biology; embryo; maternal aging; preimplantation; transcription activity; zygotic genome activation.

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