title: Waves of early transcriptional activation and pluripotency program initiation during human preimplantation development.
abstract: The events regulating human preimplantation development are still largely unknown owing to a scarcity of material, ethical and legal limitations and a lack of reliable techniques to faithfully amplify the transcriptome of a single cell. Nonetheless, human embryology is gathering renewed interest due to its close relationship with both stem cell biology and epigenetic reprogramming to pluripotency and their importance in regenerative medicine. Carefully timed genome-wide transcript analyses of single oocytes and embryos uncovered a series of successive waves of embryonic transcriptional initiation that start as early as the 2-cell stage. In addition, we identified the hierarchical activation of genes involved in the regulation of pluripotency. Finally, we developed HumER, a database of human preimplantation gene expression, to serve the scientific community. Importantly, our work links early transcription in the human embryo with the correct execution of the pluripotency program later in development and paves the way for the identification of factors to improve epigenetic reprogramming.
authors.affiliation: Center for Regenerative Medicine in Barcelona, CMR[B], Dr Aiguader 88, 08003, Barcelona, Spain.
authors.forename: Rita
authors.initials: R
authors.lastname: Vassena
authors.forename: Stéphanie
authors.initials: S
authors.lastname: Boué
authors.forename: Eva
authors.initials: E
authors.lastname: González-Roca
authors.forename: Begoña
authors.initials: B
authors.lastname: Aran
authors.forename: Herbert
authors.initials: H
authors.lastname: Auer
authors.forename: Anna
authors.initials: A
authors.lastname: Veiga
authors.forename: Juan Carlos
authors.initials: JC
authors.lastname: Izpisua Belmonte
mesh_terms: D000328:Adult; D001755:Blastocyst / Q000378:metabolism*; D047108:Embryonic Development / Q000235:genetics / Q000502:physiology*; D005260:Female; D018507:Gene Expression Regulation, Developmental / Q000235:genetics / Q000502:physiology; D006801:Humans; D007150:Immunohistochemistry; D009865:Oocytes / Q000166:cytology / Q000378:metabolism; D016133:Polymerase Chain Reaction; D011247:Pregnancy; D015533:Transcriptional Activation / Q000235:genetics / Q000502:physiology*; D055815:Young Adult