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A team at IRB Barcelona identifies an essential protein for embryonic viability

By 30 de September de 2013November 18th, 2020No Comments
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From left to righ: Researchers Salvador Pérez-Montero, Albert Carbonell and group leader Ferran Azorín. Image: IRB.
 30.09.2013

A team at IRB Barcelona identifies an essential protein for embryonic viability

A team at IRB Barcelona identifies an essential protein for embryonic viability during the first cell divisions in the fly Drosophila melanogaster. This is the first time that scientists have described a specific function of histone 1 during embryogenesis. Although this protein is present in the first embryonic stages of humans and mice, nothing is known about its function. This protein, called dBigH1, which is a variant of histone 1, could also be associated with fertility issues.


A zygote is the first cell of a new individual that comes about as the result of the fusion of an ovule with a spermatozoid. The DNA of the zygote holds all the information required to generate an adult organism. However, in the first stages of life, during the so-called embryogenesis, the genome of this zygote is repressed and does not exert any activity.

In the fly Drosophila melanogaster, the genomes of the zygote are repressed until the thirteenth division, after which the embryo starts to express its own genes. Headed by Ferran Azorín, also CSIC Research professor, the Chromatin Structure and Function group at the IRB Barcelona has identified a protein in Drosophila that keeps the zygotic genome inactive until the correct moment. This function is vital for embryo life because without dBigH1 the genome is switched on too early and the embryos die. The results are published in Developmental Cell, the most important journal of the Cell group devoted to development.

The protein dBigH1 could also be related to male and female fertility. In this study the scientists have revealed that this molecule plays a fundamental role in fly embryogenesis, but they are now focusing on defining the function of this protein in germinal cells.