DNA methylation dynamics in pre- and post-implantation development
Our group has developed and applied several genome-scale and other approaches to better understand the complete dynamic range of DNA methylation, at the nucleotide level and across organismal life, from zygote through adult lineages, refining decades old models of its regulatory contributions at every developmental stage.
Further reading:
Smith et al., Nature 2012 Smith et al., Nature 2014 Smith and Meissner, Nature Reviews Genetics 2013
Transition from DNA methylation independence to dependence
Preimplantation development represents a unique regulatory phase where cells are apparently not dependent on global DNA methylation. Through an unknown mechanism cells become sensitive to the loss of DNA methylation and even human ES cells under classic culture conditions undergo cell death in the absence of DNA methylation.
Further reading:
Liao et al., Nature Genetics 2015 Smith and Meissner, Nature Reviews Genetics 2013