Developmental pluripotency-associated protein 3 (Dppa3)

Primordial germ cell (PGCs)-specific protein involved in epigenetic chromatin reprogramming from the zygote following fertilization. In zygotes, DNA demethylation occurs selectively from the paternal pronucleus before the first cell division, while the adjacent maternal pronucleus and certain paternally-imprinted loci are protected from this procedure.

Participates in protection of DNA methylation from the maternal pronucleus by preventing conversion of 5mC to 5hmC: specifically recognizes and binds histone H3 dimethylated at'Lys-9' (H3K9me2) on maternal genome, and shields maternal genome from TET3-mediated conversion to 5hmC and following DNA demethylation. Does not bind paternal chromatin, which is mainly packed into protamine and doesn't include much H3K9me2 mark.