REVIEW article
Front. Cell Dev. Biol.
Sec. Embryonic Development
This article is part of the Research TopicEarly Embryonic Development: Zygotic Genome Activation and Epigenome ReprogrammingView all articles
Epigenetic remodeling during early embryonic development
Provisionally accepted
- 1Zunyi Medical University, Zunyi, China
- 2Chongqing Key Laboratory of Human Embryo Engineering and Precision Medicine, Center for Reproductive Medicine, Women and Children’s Hospital of Chongqing Medical University, Chongqing, China
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In mammals, the fusion of sperm and oocyte gives rise to a totipotent zygote, which undergoes a series of cleavage divisions and differentiation events. During this process, the embryo transitions from totipotency to pluripotency, accompanied by extensive epigenetic reprogramming. With continuous innovation of low-input multi-omics technology and other methods, the relationship between epigenetic remodeling and embryonic development has been gradually revealed. This review synthesizes recent advances in our understanding of the dynamics of epigenetic reprogramming during early embryogenesis in mice and humans. It covers the remodeling of DNA methylation, histone modifications, chromatin accessibility, and three-dimensional chromatin architecture, with a particular focus on the dynamic features of histone modifications. The patterns of common histone modifications such as methylation, acetylation, and ubiquitination are elaborated. Furthermore, the review outlines both the emerging roles of metabolism-associated modifications such as crotonylation and lactylation in genomic targeting and transcriptional regulation, and the dynamic patterns of histone variant incorporation.
Keywords: early embryo development3, epigenetic reprogramming1, histone modifications2, mammals4, metabolically-associated histone marks5
Received: 20 Nov 2025; Accepted: 26 Jan 2026.
Copyright: © 2026 Wan, Zhang, Li, Chen and Kong. This is an open-access article distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution License (CC BY). The use, distribution or reproduction in other forums is permitted, provided the original author(s) or licensor are credited and that the original publication in this journal is cited, in accordance with accepted academic practice. No use, distribution or reproduction is permitted which does not comply with these terms.
* Correspondence:
Mo Chen
Deying Kong
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