Stunning 3D maps reveal DNA is structured before life “switches on”
For decades, scientists believed a fertilized egg’s DNA began as a shapeless mass, only organizing itself once the embryo switched on its genes. But new research reveals that the genome is already carefully arranged in three dimensions long before that critical activation step, known as Zygotic Genome Activation. Using a powerful new method called Pico-C, researchers captured this hidden DNA architecture in unprecedented detail, showing that a complex scaffold is built early to control which genes will later turn on.
An early Drosophila embryo captured during a wave of nuclear division. Dividing nuclei (blue) and non-dividing nuclei (pink) illustrate the rapid, highly organised nature of early development and the substantial regulation of genome organisation needed to enable proper gene activation despite repeated disruption as nuclei divide. Credit: Clemens Hug
For many years, researchers believed that the DNA inside a newly fertilized egg started out as a structural 'blank slate' -- a loose and disorganized bundle that would only gain order once the embryo began using its own genes. In that traditional view, the genome remained largely unstructured until it "woke up" and initiated its genetic program.
New research published in Nature Genetics challenges that long held assumption. Professor Juanma Vaquerizas and his colleagues report that the genome already shows an unexpected level of organization at this earliest stage. The team developed a new technology called Pico-C that allows scientists to examine the 3D structure of the genome in remarkable detail. With this approach, they found that well before the genome fully activates -- a milestone known as Zygotic Genome Activation -- an elaborate 3D scaffold of DNA is already taking shape.
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