ArticleCurrent biology : CB2021
The DNA-to-cytoplasm ratio broadly activates zygotic gene expression in Xenopus.
Article in Current biology : CB, 2021. The graph could read no effect estimate from its abstract, so it casts no vote on the map. Cited by 22 papers.
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Who cites it
22 citing papers in PubMed, 27 citations in OpenAlex.
- Balanced DNA-to-cytoplasm ratio at the 2-cell stage is critical for mouse preimplantation development.iScience · 2026Article
- Regulation of zygotic genome activation by the nucleocytoplasmic ratio.Frontiers in cell and developmental biology · 2026Review
- Reconstitution of genome remodeling usingFrontiers in cell and developmental biology · 2026Review
- CANTAC-seq analysis reveals E2f1 and Otx1 coordinate zygotic genome activation in Xenopus tropicalis.Nature communications · 2025Article
- Coupling and decoupling of the cell cycle from cell differentiation in development.Development (Cambridge, England) · 2025Review
- The maternal-to-zygotic transition: reprogramming of the cytoplasm and nucleus.Nature reviews. Genetics · 2025Review
- Rise and SINE: roles of transcription factors and retrotransposons in zygotic genome activation.Nature reviews. Molecular cell biology · 2025Article
- Quantifying Nascent Transcription in Early Embryogenesis.Methods in molecular biology (Clifton, N.J.) · 2025Article
- Cell state transitions are decoupled from cell division during early embryo development.Nature cell biology · 2024Article
- Kick-starting the zygotic genome: licensors, specifiers, and beyond.EMBO reports · 2024Review
- Eukaryotic cell size regulation and its implications for cellular function and dysfunction.Physiological reviews · 2024Review
- Collective effects of cell cleavage dynamics.Frontiers in cell and developmental biology · 2024Review
- Manipulation of Embryonic Cleavage Geometry Using Magnetic Tweezers.Methods in molecular biology (Clifton, N.J.) · 2024Article
- Principles of genome activation in the early embryo.Current opinion in genetics & development · 2023Review
- Parallels and contrasts between the cnidarian and bilaterian maternal-to-zygotic transition are revealed in Hydractinia embryos.PLoS genetics · 2023Article
- Parallels and contrasts between the cnidarian and bilaterian maternal-to-zygotic transition are revealed inbioRxiv : the preprint server for biology · 2023Article
- Dodecaploid Xenopus longipes provides insight into the emergence of size scaling relationships during development.Current biology : CB · 2023Article
- The Nuclear-to-Cytoplasmic Ratio: Coupling DNA Content to Cell Size, Cell Cycle, and Biosynthetic Capacity.Annual review of genetics · 2022Review
- Nascent transcriptome reveals orchestration of zygotic genome activation in early embryogenesis.Current biology : CB · 2022Article
- Differential nuclear import sets the timing of protein access to the embryonic genome.Nature communications · 2022Article
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Authors and funding
4 authors at 1 institution in 1 country.
Funding
Abstract
In multicellular animals, the first major event after fertilization is the switch from maternal to zygotic control of development. During this transition, zygotic gene transcription is broadly activated in an otherwise quiescent genome in a process known as zygotic genome activation (ZGA). In fast-developing embryos, ZGA often overlaps with the slowing of initially synchronous cell divisions at the mid-blastula transition (MBT). Initial studies of the MBT led to the nuclear-to-cytoplasmic ratio model where MBT timing is regulated by the exponentially increasing amounts of some nuclear component "N" titrated against a fixed cytoplasmic component "C." However, more recent experiments have been interpreted to suggest that ZGA is independent of the N/C ratio. To determine the role of the N/C ratio in ZGA, we generated Xenopus frog embryos with ∼3-fold differences in genomic DNA (i.e., N) by using X. tropicalis sperm to fertilize X. laevis eggs with or without their maternal genome. Resulting embryos have otherwise identical X. tropicalis genome template amounts, embryo sizes, and X. laevis maternal environments. We generated transcriptomic time series across the MBT in both conditions and used X. tropicalis paternally derived mRNA to identify a high-confidence set of exclusively zygotic transcripts. Both ZGA and the increase in cell-cycle duration are delayed in embryos with ∼3-fold less DNA per cell. Thus, DNA is an important component of the N/C ratio, which is a critical regulator of zygotic genome activation in Xenopus embryos.
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Read under generation 80e0d062 · epoch 390. Bibliography from PubMed, PubMed Central and OpenAlex; grants from NIH RePORTER; trial links from ClinicalTrials.gov; estimates, votes and beliefs from the Socratic graph.