An important event of the maternal-to-zygotic transition (MZT) in animal embryos is the elimination of a subset of the maternal transcripts that accumulated during oogenesis. In both invertebrates and vertebrates, a maternally encoded mRNA decay pathway (M-decay) acts before zygotic genome activation (ZGA) while a second pathway, which requires zygotic transcription, subsequently clears additional mRNAs (Z-decay). To date the mechanisms that activate the Z-decay pathway in mammalian early embryos have not been investigated. Here, we identify murine maternal transcripts that are degraded after ZGA and show that inhibition of de novo transcription stabilizes these mRNAs in mouse embryos. We show that YAP1-TEAD4 transcription factor-mediated transcription is essential for Z-decay in mouse embryos and that TEAD4-triggered zygotic expression of terminal uridylyltransferases TUT4 and TUT7 and mRNA 3′-oligouridylation direct Z-decay. Components of the M-decay pathway, including BTG4 and the CCR4-NOT deadenylase, continue to function in Z-decay but require reinforcement from the zygotic factors for timely removal of maternal mRNAs. A long 3′-UTR and active translation confer resistance of Z-decay transcripts to M-decay during oocyte meiotic maturation. The Z-decay pathway is required for mouse embryo development beyond the four-cell stage and contributes to the developmental competence of preimplantation embryos.

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The immune-response gene 1 (IRG1) plays a key role in anti-pathogen defense, as deletion of Irg1 in mice causes severe defects in response to bacterial and viral infection, and decreased survival 1, 2 . IRG1 transcription is rapidly induced by pathogen infection and in ammatory conditions primarily in cells of myeloid lineage 3 . IRG1 encodes a mitochondrial metabolic enzyme, aconitate decarboxylase 1 (ACOD1), that catalyzes the decarboxylation of cis-aconitate to produce the anti-in ammatory metabolite itaconic acid (ITA) 4 . Several molecular processes are affected by ITA, including succinate dehydrogenase (SDH) inhibition 5 , resulting in succinate accumulation and metabolic reprogramming 6,7 , and alkylation of protein cysteine residues, inducing the electrophilic stress response mediated by NRF2 and IκBζ 8, 9 and impairing aerobic glycolysis 10 . However, the mechanisms by which ITA exerts its profound antiin ammatory effect still remains to be fully elucidated. Here, we show that ITA is a potent inhibitor of the TET family DNA dioxygenases, which catalyze the conversion of 5-methylcytosine (5mC) to 5hydroxymethylcytosine (5hmC) during the process of active DNA demethylation. ITA binds to the same site of α-ketoglutarate (α-KG) in TET2, inhibiting its catalytic activity. Lipopolysaccharides (LPS) treatment, which induces Irg1 expression and ITA accumulation, inhibits Tet activity in macrophages. Transcriptome analysis reveals TET2 is a major target of ITA in suppressing LPS-induced genes, including those regulated by NF-κB and STAT signaling pathways. In vivo, ITA decreases 5hmC, reduces LPS-induced acute pulmonary edema and lung and liver injury, and protects mice against lethal endotoxaemia in a manner that is dependent on the catalytic activity of Tet2. Our study thus identi es ITA as an immune modulatory metabolite that selectively inhibits TET enzymes to dampen the in ammatory response. MainDeletion of the Irg1 gene or treatment with cell permeable ITA alters the transcriptional signature in response to LPS 2 . We speculated that ITA may impact epigenetics to in uence gene expression, and therefore, we determined the effect of Irg1 expression and ITA accumulation on global histone and DNA de/methylation in transfected HEK293T cells (Extended Data Fig. 1a). We found that ectopic expression of either wild-type or catalytic inactive mutant Irg1 had little effect on mono-, di-, and trimethylation of all ve histone H3 lysine residues (Extended Data Fig. 1b, 1c). In contrast, expression of wild-type Irg1, but not the catalytic inactive mutant, dramatically reduced Tet2-mediated global 5hmC in cells (Fig. 1a and Extended Data Fig. 1d-e). Like α-KG, which is a crucial co-substrate for the activity of TET2, ITA is also a dicarboxylic acid containing a 4-or 5-carboxylate that, in the case of α-KG, forms hydrogen and ionic bonds with H1416, R1896, and S1898 in TET2 11 . Of note, α-KG binds to Fe(II) in a bidentate manner via its C-1 carboxylate and C-2 keto groups, which are lacking in ITA. This raises the possibi...

Zar1 was one of the earliest mammalian maternal-effect genes to be identified. Embryos derived from Zar1-null female mice are blocked before zygotic genome activation; however, the underlying mechanism remains unclear. By knocking out Zar1 and its homolog Zar2 in mice, we revealed a novel function of these genes in oocyte meiotic maturation. Zar1/2-deleted oocytes displayed delayed meiotic resumption and polar body-1 emission and a higher incidence of abnormal meiotic spindle formation and chromosome aneuploidy. The grown oocytes of Zar1/2-null mice contained decreased levels of many maternal mRNAs and displayed a reduced level of protein synthesis. Key maturation-associated changes failed to occur in the Zar1/2-null oocytes, including the translational activation of maternal mRNAs encoding the cell-cycle proteins cyclin B1 and WEE2, as well as maternal-to-zygotic transition (MZT) licensing factor BTG4. Consequently, maternal mRNA decay was impaired and MZT was abolished. ZAR1/2 bound mRNAs to regulate the translational activity of their 3′-UTRs and interacted with other oocyte proteins, including mRNA-stabilizing protein MSY2 and cytoplasmic lattice components. These results countered the traditional view that ZAR1 only functions after fertilization and highlight a previously unrecognized role of ZAR1/2 in regulating the maternal transcriptome and translational activation in maturing oocytes.

Maternal mRNA degradation is a critical event of the maternal-tozygotic transition (MZT) that determines the developmental potential of early embryos. Nuclear Poly(A)-binding proteins (PABPNs) are extensively involved in mRNA post-transcriptional regulation, but their function in the MZT has not been investigated. In this study, we find that the maternally expressed PABPN1-like (PABPN1L), rather than its ubiquitously expressed homolog PABPN1, acts as an mRNA-binding adapter of the mammalian MZT licensing factor BTG4, which mediates maternal mRNA clearance. Female Pabpn1l null mice produce morphologically normal oocytes but are infertile owing to early developmental arrest of the resultant embryos at the 1to 2-cell stage. Deletion of Pabpn1l impairs the deadenylation and degradation of a subset of BTG4-targeted maternal mRNAs during the MZT. In addition to recruiting BTG4 to the mRNA 3ʹ-poly(A) tails, PABPN1L is also required for BTG4 protein accumulation in maturing oocytes by protecting BTG4 from SCF-bTrCP1 E3 ubiquitin ligase-mediated polyubiquitination and degradation. This study highlights a noncanonical cytoplasmic function of nuclear poly(A)-binding protein in mRNA turnover, as well as its physiological importance during the MZT.