Maternal gene expression data from dMLL3/4-depleted Drosophila embryos

Analysis of Drosophila melanogaster early embryos (pre-zygotic genome activation) following the germ line-specific depletion of the dMLL3/4 histone methyltransferase (also known as Trr). These results provide insight into the molecular mechanisms responsible for the assembly of the zygotic genome at fertilization. Drosophila embryos at a pre-zygotic genome (ZGA) activation stage were selected for RNA extraction and hybridization on Affymetrix microarrays. For this, early embryos (less than 1 hour post-laying) were dechorionated with a 50% commercial bleach solution and manually selected for the lack of morphological hallmarks of a post-ZGA state (selection for the absence of pole cells and cortical nuclei). The selected embryos were morphologically homogenous across the two experimental groups (Control RNAi and dMLL3/4 RNAi). Each group consisted of two temporally distinct biological replicates.