Our objective is to better understand genome reprogramming during early embryonic development either after fertilization or after nuclear transfer (the "cloning" procedure). Cloning experiments indeed offer a unique opportunity to understand how the oocyte's environment dictates the reorganization of the introduced nuclei and thereby the transcriptional programs that can have long term consequences.

It is believed that this reprogramming process relies on finely tuned mechanisms of epigenomic regulation. We are therefore studying nuclear architecture remodeling and epigenetic dynamics in fertilized and cloned embryos, using drugs known to modulate the epigenome. This work is performed in two different mammalian systems (murine and bovine).

It should help us to establish what constitutes "good" nuclear organization and to understand how the environment shapes the epigenome.

List of PhDs and postdocs:

• Delphine DUBE, PhD
• Anne-Clémence VEILLARD, PhD
• Maimouna Coura KONE, PhD
• Barbara PANNEAU, Post-Doc