Epigenetic Reprogramming in Plant and Animal Development

• Published in: Science (American Association for the Advancement of Science) Vol. 330; no. 6004; pp. 622 - 627
• Main Authors: Feng, Suhua, Jacobsen, Steven E, Reik, Wolf
• Format: Journal Article
• Language: English
• Published: United States American Association for the Advancement of Science 29.10.2010; The American Association for the Advancement of Science
• Subjects: Analogies; Angiospermae; animal development; Animals; Arabidopsis - embryology; Arabidopsis - genetics; Cellular biology; Cellular Reprogramming; Deoxyribonucleic acid; Developmental biology; DNA; DNA Methylation; DNA repair; DNA Transposable Elements; Embryo, Mammalian - metabolism; Embryo, Mammalian - physiology; Embryo, Nonmammalian - metabolism; Embryo, Nonmammalian - physiology; Embryonic Development; Epigenesis, Genetic; Epigenetics; Female; Flowering; Flowering plants; Gene Expression Regulation, Developmental; Gene Silencing; genome; Genomes; Genomic Imprinting; Genomics; Germ cells; Germ Cells - growth & development; Germ Cells - metabolism; Histones; Histones - metabolism; Male; Mammals; Mammals - embryology; Mammals - genetics; Methylation; Mother cells; Organisms; Protein Processing, Post-Translational; REVIEWS; RNA; Somatic cells; Stem cells; Strategy; totipotency; Transposons
• ISSN: 0036-8075; 1095-9203; 1095-9203
• DOI: 10.1126/science.1190614

Epigenetic modifications of the genome are generally stable in somatic cells of multicellular organisms. In germ cells and early embryos, however, epigenetic reprogramming occurs on a genome-wide scale, which includes demethylation of DNA and remodeling of histones and their modifications. The mechanisms of genome-wide erasure of DNA methylation, which involve modifications to 5-methylcytosine and DNA repair, are being unraveled. Epigenetic reprogramming has important roles in imprinting, the natural as well as experimental acquisition of totipotency and pluripotency, control of transposons, and epigenetic inheritance across generations. Small RNAs and the inheritance of histone marks may also contribute to epigenetic inheritance and reprogramming. Reprogramming occurs in flowering plants and in mammals, and the similarities and differences illuminate developmental and reproductive strategies.