Extensive Recovery of Embryonic Enhancer and Gene Memory Stored in Hypomethylated Enhancer DNA (Molecular Cell)

Although cells decommission embryonic enhancers by erasing histone marks, these regions retain hypomethylated DNA into adulthood, preserving an accurate archive of tissue-specific developmental cis elements. This epigenetic memory is recovered after prolonged absence of polycomb repressive complex 2, when transcription factors selectively reactivate hypomethylated developmental enhancers and their tissue-restricted target genes.