Germ line–inherited H3K27me3 restricts enhancer function during maternal-to-zygotic transition

Great to see this exciting collaboration led by the Iovino lab finally out in Science! Besides DNA itself, the parents provide a multitude of epigenetic information to the embryo. Here we show that the Polycomb repressive histone mark H3K27me3 is contributed maternally, to regulate the timing of zygotic genome activation in Drosophila. Preventing the propagation of maternally inherited H3K27me3 leads to precocious gene activation and, ultimately, embryo lethality.