Summary: Trimethylation of histone H3 at lysine-4 (H3K4me3) is associated with eukaryotic gene promoters and poises their transcriptional activation during development. To examine the in vivo function of H3K4me3 in the absence of DNA replication, we deleted CXXC finger protein 1 (CFP1), the DNA-binding subunit of the SETD1 histone H3K4 methyltransferase, in developing oocytes. We find that CFP1 is required for H3K4me3 accumulation and the deposition of histone variants onto chromatin during oocyte maturation. Decreased H3K4me3 in oocytes caused global downregulation of transcription activity. Oocytes lacking CFP1 failed to complete maturation and were unable to gain developmental competence after fertilization, due to defects in cytoplasmic lattice formation, meiotic division, and maternal-zygotic transition. Our study highlights the importance of H3K4me3 in continuous histone replacement for transcriptional regulation, chromatin remodeling, and normal developmental progression in a non-replicative system. : Yu et al. define CFP1 as a key regulator of oocyte chromatin changes and developmental potential. Deletion of CFP1 in oocytes causes decreased H3K4me3 levels and transcription, in turn, leading to cytoskeletal defects, meiotic division, maternal-zygotic transition, and, ultimately, infertility. Keywords: CxxC1 finger protein 1, histone H3K4 trimethylation, oocyte, maternal-zygotic transition, histone exchange, female fertility, zygotic genome activation
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