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Histone methylation in mammalian follicular development 

ZHANG Chun-Jiao, WANG Chao^*

State Key Laboratory for Agrobiotechnology, College of Biological Sciences, China Agricultural University, Beijing 100094, China

Abstract

The normal development of follicles involves a series of complex life processes such as ordered transcriptional activation and inhibition, which is crucial for female reproductive ability. Histone methylation can change the chromatin state in cells and affect the transcription activity of genes. Current studies indicate that epigenetic modifications such as histone methylation play an important regulatory role in follicular development in female mammals. This paper summarized the relationship between H3K4, H3K9 methylation and germ cell development, their regulatory effects, including their dynamical changes during follicular development, and the progress of H3K4me3 and other histone methylation binding to promoter regions of different genes to regulate gene expression and thus affect germ cell epigenetic reprogramming, oocyte transcription, meiosis and other processes. This review will provide a reference for the study of mechanisms related to histone methylation modification and the development and maturation of gonadal parenchymal cells.

Key words: epigenetics; histone methylation; follicular development

Received: 2020-12-30　　Accepted: 2021-05-13

Corresponding author: 王超　　E-mail: wangcam@126.com

Citing This Article：

ZHANG Chun-Jiao, WANG Chao. Histone methylation in mammalian follicular development . Acta Physiol Sin 2021; 73 (6): 980-990 (in Chinese with English abstract).