Nucleation and heterochromatin establishment in Drosophila miranda

Heterochromatin is a key architectural feature of eukaryotic genomes, crucial for silencing of repetitive elements and maintaining genome stability. Heterochromatin shows stereotypical enrichment patterns around centromeres and repetitive sequences, but the molecular details of how heterochromatin is established in vivo are poorly understood. Here, we map the genome-wide distribution of H3K9me3-dependent heterochromatin in individual Drosophila early embryos at precisely staged developmental time points.Â

异染色质（Heterochromatin）是真核生物基因组的关键结构特征，对于沉默重复元件以及维持基因组稳定性至关重要。异染色质在着丝粒（centromeres）与重复序列周围呈现典型的富集模式，但目前学界对异染色质在体内（in vivo）建立的分子细节仍了解甚少。本研究绘制了依赖H3K9me3修饰的异染色质在单个果蝇（Drosophila）早期胚胎中、精准分期的各发育时间点下的全基因组分布图谱。