Deletion of a single allele of the gene encoding Zbtb38 causes early embryonic death

DNA methylation is an important epigenetic modification that is critical for mammalian development

To further unravel the mystery, the same team of scientists at NAIST, led by Eishou Matsuda, used the Crep-LOXP technology to create conditional Zbtb38 knockout mice

"Our results show that germline deletion of Zbtb38 monoallelic reduces ectodermal cell proliferation shortly after embryo implantation and increases apoptosis, leading to early embryonic death

"For the first time, we have demonstrated a link to embryonic function in a protein that has long been thought to bind methyl-cpg," said co-author Yasumasa Ishida

The findings of this work will be of interest to developmental biologists because it highlights the epigenetic significance of DNA methylation in early pregnancy

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Heterozygous loss of Zbtb38 leads to early embryonic lethality via the suppression of Nanog and Sox2 expression