Xiaochen Kou

TL;DR: A small-scale chromatin immunoprecipitation followed by sequencing method is used to map the genome-wide profiles of histone H3 lysine 4 trimethylation (H3K4me3) and H3K27me3, which are associated with gene activation and repression, respectively, in mouse pre-implantation embryos, facilitating further exploration of the mechanism for epigenetic regulation in early embryos.

TL;DR: A panoramic view of the landscape of H3K4me3, a histone hallmark for transcription initiation, from developing gametes to post-implantation embryos is provided by developing a highly sensitive approach, STAR ChIP–seq, to unveil inheritance and highly dynamic reprogramming of the epigenome in early mammalian development.

TL;DR: It is demonstrated that the DNA hydroxylase Tet1 facilitates pluripotent stem cell induction by promoting Oct4 demethylation and reactivation and that changes in DNA methylation and hydroxymethylation play important roles in genome-wide epigenetic remodeling during reprogramming.

TL;DR: It is demonstrated that H3K9me3-dependent heterochromatin undergoes dramatic reprogramming during early embryonic development and provide valuable resources for further exploration of the epigenetic mechanism in early embryos.

TL;DR: This study developed a somatic cell nuclear transfer embryo biopsy system at two- or four-cell stage, which allows to trace the developmental fate of the biopsied embryos precisely and discovered that inactivation of Kdm4b, a histone H3 lysine 9 trimethylation demethylase functions as a barrier for two-cell arrest of cloned embryos.