Coordinated regulation of chromatin modifiers reflects organised epigenetic programming in mouse oocytes

Overall, these data demonstrate that oocyte epigenetic programming is a highly ordered process, with histone remodelling in early growing oocytes preceding de novo DNA methylation in secondary-antral follicle oocytes. These results indicate that tight temporal and spatial regulation of histone modifiers and modifications is essential to ensure correct establishment of the unique epigenome present in fully grown oocytes. Further understanding of the temporal and spatial relationships between different epigenetic modifications and how they interact is essential for understanding how germline epigenetic programming affects inheritance and offspring development in mammals, including humans.