Dear ALL:

I am pleased to inform you that a paper titled "RNA element discovery from germ cell to blastocyst" by Estill, Molly; Hauser, Russ; Krawetz, Stephen was published yesterday in Nucleic Acids Research Volume 47, Issue 5, 18 March 2019, Pages 2263-2275 (IF 11.561). Figure 2 of this paper was selected for the cover of this issue. The cover can be found by clicking on the left "Cover image" at: https://academic.oup.com/nar/issue/47/5 .

This was the work of Molly Estill a Ph.D. student in Dr. Krawetz's research team in collaboration with Dr. Russ Hauser from Harvard University.

Dr. Krawetz's research team developed the RNA Element (RE) Discovery algorithm (REDa) to assess the extent of expression of the human genome from germ cell to blastocyst. This revealed numerous previously unknown RNAs in sperm including those derived from the X chromosome. Transcribed repetitive sequence switching during differentiation that then changes at fertilization and embryonic genome activation was highlighted adding to the mystery.

I hope you all find this is of interest.

Sincerely,

Chaur-Dong Hsu, MD, MPH, FACOG
Chair & Frank P. Iacobell Professor