(EN) Maternal factors play essential roles in regulating the programmed gene activation during early embryonic development. The recent findings from the collaborative work led by Prof. Zhao Hui discovered that modification of maternally defined H3K4me3 in Xenopus laevis and X. tropicalis hybrids determines the different fates of the two types of hybrids as te×ls with developmental arrest and viable le×ts.

Transcriptomics highlighted that the P53 pathway was overactivated, and the Wnt signaling pathway was suppressed in te×ls hybrids. Moreover, the lack of maternal H3K4me3 in te×ls disturbed the balance of gene expression between the L and S subgenomes in this hybrid. This study suggests a novel model of reproductive isolation based on modifications of maternally defined H3K4me3.

The findings have been published in Science Advances in April 2023:

https://www.science.org/doi/full/10.1126/sciadv.add8343