REPRODUCTIONREVIEW The histone codes for meiosis Lina Wang1,2,*, Zhiliang Xu1,3,*, Muhammad Babar Khawar4, Chao Liu1 and Wei Li1 1State Key Laboratory of Stem Cell and Reproductive Biology, Institute of Zoology, Chinese Academy of Sciences, Beijing, People’s Republic of China, 2University of Chinese Academy of Sciences, Beijing, People’s Republic of China, 3Key Laboratory for Major Obstetric Diseases of Guangdong Province, Key Laboratory of Reproduction and Genetics of Guangdong Higher Education Institutes, The Third Affiliated Hospital of Guangzhou Medical University, Guangzhou, People’s Republic of China and 4Department of Zoology, University of the Punjab, Lahore, Pakistan Correspondence should be addressed to W Li or C Liu; Email:
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[email protected] *(L Wang and Z Xu contributed equally to this work) Abstract Meiosis is a specialized process that produces haploid gametes from diploid cells by a single round of DNA replication followed by two successive cell divisions. It contains many special events, such as programmed DNA double-strand break (DSB) formation, homologous recombination, crossover formation and resolution. These events are associated with dynamically regulated chromosomal structures, the dynamic transcriptional regulation and chromatin remodeling are mainly modulated by histone modifications, termed ‘histone codes’. The purpose of this review is to summarize the histone codes that are required for meiosis during spermatogenesis and oogenesis, involving meiosis resumption, meiotic asymmetric division and other cellular processes. We not only systematically review the functional roles of histone codes in meiosis but also discuss future trends and perspectives in this field. Reproduction (2017) 154 R65–R79 Introduction becoming shorter and thicker.