Skip to main page content
U.S. flag

An official website of the United States government

Dot gov

The .gov means it’s official.
Federal government websites often end in .gov or .mil. Before sharing sensitive information, make sure you’re on a federal government site.

Https

The site is secure.
The https:// ensures that you are connecting to the official website and that any information you provide is encrypted and transmitted securely.

Access keys NCBI Homepage MyNCBI Homepage Main Content Main Navigation
. 2024 Mar;4(1):64-83.
doi: 10.3390/dna4010004. Epub 2024 Feb 22.

Chromatin Organization during C. elegans Early Development

Affiliations

Chromatin Organization during C. elegans Early Development

Eshna Jash et al. DNA (Basel). 2024 Mar.

Abstract

Embryogenesis is characterized by dynamic chromatin remodeling and broad changes in chromosome architecture. These changes in chromatin organization are accompanied by transcriptional changes, which are crucial for the proper development of the embryo. Several independent mechanisms regulate this process of chromatin reorganization, including segregation of chromatin into heterochromatin and euchromatin, deposition of active and repressive histone modifications, and the formation of 3D chromatin domains such as TADs and LADs. These changes in chromatin structure are directly linked to developmental milestones such as the loss of developmental plasticity and acquisition of terminally differentiated cell identities. In this review we summarize these processes that underlie this chromatin reorganization and their impact on embryogenesis in the nematode C. elegans.

Keywords: LADs; TADs; chromatin; dosage compensation; embryo development; histone modifications.

PubMed Disclaimer

Conflict of interest statement

Conflicts of Interest: The authors declare no conflict of interest.

Figures

Figure 1:
Figure 1:
Schematic representation of tethering pathways for heterochromatin and telomeric chromatin
Figure 2:
Figure 2:
Timeline of chromatin reorganization during embryogenesis.

Similar articles

Cited by

References

    1. Politz JCR; Scalzo D; Groudine M. Something Silent This Way Forms: The Functional Organization of the Repressive Nuclear Compartment. Annu. Rev. Cell Dev. Biol. 2013, 29, 241–270, doi:10.1146/annurev-cellbio-101512-122317. - DOI - PMC - PubMed
    1. Ruthenburg AJ; Allis CD; Wysocka J. Methylation of Lysine 4 on Histone H3: Intricacy of Writing and Reading a Single Epigenetic Mark. Mol. Cell 2007, 25, 15–30, doi:10.1016/j.molcel.2006.12.014. - DOI - PubMed
    1. Ahringer J; Gasser SM Repressive Chromatin in Caenorhabditis Elegans: Establishment, Composition, and Function. Genetics 2018, 208, 491–511, doi:10.1534/genetics.117.300386. - DOI - PMC - PubMed
    1. Dixon JR; Selvaraj S; Yue F; Kim A; Li Y; Shen Y; Hu M; Liu JS; Ren B. Topological Domains in Mammalian Genomes Identified by Analysis of Chromatin Interactions. Nature 2012, 485, 376–380, doi:10.1038/nature11082. - DOI - PMC - PubMed
    1. Sexton T; Yaffe E; Kenigsberg E; Bantignies F; Leblanc B; Hoichman M; Parrinello H; Tanay A; Cavalli G. Three-Dimensional Folding and Functional Organization Principles of the Drosophila Genome. Cell 2012, 148, 458–472, doi:10.1016/j.cell.2012.01.010. - DOI - PubMed

LinkOut - more resources