Analysis of hypertranscription in E13.5 mouse primordial germ cells

During embryonic development, large-scale reprogramming occurs in primordial germ cells (PGCs) at the level of both DNA demethylation and histone modifications. While much is known about epigenetic changes, it still remains unclear how this chromatin state impacts the transcriptome and development of the germline. We have used cell-number normalised (CNN) RNA-seq to document the striking upregulation of the germ cell transcriptome at E13.5 compared to neighboring somatic cells of the embryonic gonad. We provide a novel, genome-wide analysis of hypertranscription during development, documenting the global amplification of the majority of the E13.5 PGC transcriptome. Upregulated transcripts in PGCs include those for ribosome biogenesis, translation and chromatin remodelling, as well as all transposable element families. These data reveal the significant hyperactivity of the germ cell transcriptome. 3 replicates each of E13.5 male or female PGCs and 3 replicates each of male of female soma were used to generate RNA-seq library samples (12 samples total)