REVIEW: Regulation of Zygotic Genome and Cellular Pluripotency

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D. V. Onichtchouk^1* and A. S. Voronina²

¹University of Freiburg, Developmental Biology Unit, Biologie 1, 79194 Freiburg, Germany; E-mail: Daria.Onichtchouk@biologie.uni-freiburg.de

²Research Center of Biotechnology RAS (Bach Institute of Biochemistry), 119071 Moscow, Russia; E-mail: voronina_a@mail.ru

^* To whom correspondence should be addressed.

Received March 17, 2015; Revision received July 31, 2015

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Events, manifesting transition from maternal to zygotic period of development are studied for more than 100 years, but underlying mechanisms are not yet clear. We provide a brief historical overview of development of concepts and explain the specific terminology used in the field. We further discuss differences and similarities between the zygotic genome activation and in vitro reprogramming process. Finally, we envision the future research directions within the field, where biochemical methods will play increasingly important role.

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KEY WORDS: zebrafish, ZGA, MBT, pluripotency, Oct4, Nanog

DOI: 10.1134/S0006297915130088

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