Integrity of the germline genome is essential for the production of viable gametes and
successful reproduction. In mammals, the generation of gametes involves extensive epigenetic …

The majority of cloned animals derived by nuclear transfer from somatic cell nuclei develop
to the blastocyst stage but die after implantation. Mouse embryos that lack an Oct4 gene, …

Derepression of transposable elements (TEs) in the course of epigenetic reprogramming of
the mouse embryonic germline necessitates the existence of a robust defense that is …

Large genomic insertions and deletions are a potent source of functional variation, but are
challenging to resolve with short-read sequencing, limiting knowledge of the role of such …

Genetic analysis has implicated SPT6, an essential gene of Saccharomyces cerevisiae, in
the control of chromatin structure. Mutations in SPT6 and particular mutations in histone …

Tight control of transposon activity is essential for the integrity of the germline. Recently, a
germ-cell-specific organelle, nuage, was proposed to play a role in transposon repression. To …

The PIWI-interacting RNA (piRNA) pathway is essential for retrotransposon silencing. In
piRNA-deficient mice, L1-overexpressing male germ cells exhibit excessive DNA damage and …

Meiotic prophase I (MPI), is an initial stage of meiosis characterized by intricate homologous
chromosome interactions, synapsis, and DNA recombination. These processes depend on …

Fetal oocyte attrition (FOA) is a conserved but poorly understood process of elimination of
more than two-thirds of meiotic prophase I (MPI) oocytes before birth. We now implicate …

Pachytene pi RNA s are a class of Piwi‐interacting small RNA s abundant in spermatids of
the adult mouse testis. They are processed from pi RNA primary transcripts by a poorly …