Evidence map›Paper›PMID 39774947›Full record

ArticleNature communications2025

DNA methylation modulates nucleosome retention in sperm and H3K4 methylation deposition in early mouse embryos.

Grigorios Fanourgakis, Laura Gaspa-Toneu, Pavel A Komarov, Panagiotis Papasaikas, Evgeniy A Ozonov, Sebastien A Smallwood, Antoine H F M Peters

Abstract read
In one paragraph

Article in Nature communications, 2025. The graph could read no effect estimate from its abstract, so it casts no vote on the map. Cited by 14 papers.

0numbers the graph read from it
0cells of the map it votes in
14citing papers in PubMed
–field-weighted citation impact
1 · What the graph read from it

What it found

Each row is one number read from the abstract, on the scale the paper reported it, with its interval. Left of the dashed line favours the treatment, right favours the comparator. Under each row is the sentence it came from. New to these charts? A ten-minute tutorial.

The abstract states no effect estimate the extractor could read, or names no intervention and outcome on the map, so this paper lights no cell and moves no belief. It is still indexed, cited and linked below.

2 · The registry

The trial behind it

Trials whose registry record cites this paper, or whose number appears in the abstract. A trial that started after this paper was published is citing it as background, not reporting it.

Neither the registry nor the abstract names a trial number. If this is a trial report, that itself is worth knowing.

3 · Its place in the literature

Who cites it

14 citing papers in PubMed.

  1. Article
  2. Article
  3. Article
  4. Review
  5. Review
  6. Review
  7. Review
  8. Article
  9. Review
  10. Article
  11. Review
  12. Article
  13. Article
  14. Article
4 · The record

Corrections and comments

PubMed lists nothing against this paper. Absence here is not a guarantee, only a check that was made.

5 · Who and what money

Authors and funding

7 authors.

Grigorios FanourgakisFriedrich Miescher Institute for Biomedical Research, Fabrikstrasse 24, 4056, Basel, Switzerland.ORCID http://orcid.org/0000-0003-4971-0786
Laura Gaspa-ToneuFriedrich Miescher Institute for Biomedical Research, Fabrikstrasse 24, 4056, Basel, Switzerland.ORCID http://orcid.org/0009-0004-2552-0616
Pavel A KomarovFriedrich Miescher Institute for Biomedical Research, Fabrikstrasse 24, 4056, Basel, Switzerland.ORCID http://orcid.org/0000-0001-9482-0349
Panagiotis PapasaikasFriedrich Miescher Institute for Biomedical Research, Fabrikstrasse 24, 4056, Basel, Switzerland.ORCID http://orcid.org/0000-0002-1640-7636
Evgeniy A OzonovFriedrich Miescher Institute for Biomedical Research, Fabrikstrasse 24, 4056, Basel, Switzerland.ORCID http://orcid.org/0000-0003-4584-4939
Sebastien A SmallwoodFriedrich Miescher Institute for Biomedical Research, Fabrikstrasse 24, 4056, Basel, Switzerland.
Antoine H F M PetersFriedrich Miescher Institute for Biomedical Research, Fabrikstrasse 24, 4056, Basel, Switzerland. antoine.peters@fmi.ch.ORCID http://orcid.org/0000-0002-0311-1887

Funding

EC | EU Framework Programme for Research and Innovation H2020 | H2020 Priority Excellent Science | H2020 European Research Council (H2020 Excellent Science - European Research Council) ERC-AdG no. 695288 - TotipotencySchweizerischer Nationalfonds zur Förderung der Wissenschaftlichen Forschung (Swiss National Science Foundation) 31003A-172873
6 · The paper itself

Abstract

In the germ line and during early embryogenesis, DNA methylation (DNAme) undergoes global erasure and re-establishment to support germ cell and embryonic development. While DNAme acquisition during male germ cell development is essential for setting genomic DNA methylation imprints, other intergenerational roles for paternal DNAme in defining embryonic chromatin are unknown. Through conditional gene deletion of the de novo DNA methyltransferases Dnmt3a and/or Dnmt3b, we observe that DNMT3A primarily safeguards against DNA hypomethylation in undifferentiated spermatogonia, while DNMT3B catalyzes de novo DNAme during spermatogonial differentiation. Failing de novo DNAme in Dnmt3a/Dnmt3b double deficient spermatogonia is associated with increased nucleosome occupancy in mature sperm, preferentially at sites with higher CpG content, supporting the model that DNAme modulates nucleosome retention in sperm. To assess the impact of altered sperm chromatin in formatting embryonic chromatin, we measure H3K4me3 occupancy at paternal and maternal alleles in 2-cell embryos using a transposon-based tagging approach. Our data show that reduced DNAme in sperm renders paternal alleles permissive for H3K4me3 establishment in early embryos, independently of possible paternal inheritance of sperm born H3K4me3. Together, this study provides evidence that paternally inherited DNAme directs chromatin formation during early embryonic development.

Indexed as

DNA (Cytosine-5-)-MethyltransferasesDNA MethylationDNA Methyltransferase 3AHistonesNucleosomesSpermatozoaAnimalsChromatinCpG IslandsDNA Methyltransferase 3BEmbryo, MammalianEmbryonic DevelopmentFemaleGene Expression Regulation, DevelopmentalMaleMiceChromatinDNA (Cytosine-5-)-MethyltransferasesDNA Methyltransferase 3ADNA Methyltransferase 3BDnmt3a protein, mousehistone H3 trimethyl Lys4HistonesNucleosomes

Identifiers

PMID39774947
PMCPMC11706963

What Socratic holds

Textmetadata
LicenceCC BY
Read underepoch 390

Registered trials

None linked

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.