Poised chromatin and bivalent domains facilitate the mitosis-to-meiosis transition in the male germline.

BACKGROUND: The male germline transcriptome changes dramatically during the mitosis-to-meiosis transition to activate late spermatogenesis genes and to transiently suppress genes commonly expressed in somatic lineages and spermatogenesis progenitor cells, termed somatic/progenitor genes. RESULTS: These changes reflect epigenetic regulation. Induction of late spermatogenesis genes during spermatogenesis is facilitated by poised chromatin established in the stem cell phases of spermatogonia, whereas silencing of somatic/progenitor genes during meiosis and postmeiosis is associated with formation of bivalent domains which also allows the recovery of the somatic/progenitor program after fertilization. Importantly, during spermatogenesis mechanisms of epigenetic regulation on sex chromosomes are different from autosomes: X-linked somatic/progenitor genes are suppressed by meiotic sex chromosome inactivation without deposition of H3K27me3. CONCLUSIONS: Our results suggest that bivalent H3K27me3 and H3K4me2/3 domains are not limited to developmental promoters (which maintain bivalent domains that are silent throughout the reproductive cycle), but also underlie reversible silencing of somatic/progenitor genes during the mitosis-to-meiosis transition in late spermatogenesis.