Background:
Primordial germ cell (PGCs)-specific protein involved in epigenetic chromatin reprogramming in the zygote following fertilization. In zygotes, DNA demethylation occurs selectively in the paternal pronucleus before the first cell division, while the adjacent maternal pronucleus and certain paternally-imprinted loci are protected from this process. Participates in protection of DNA methylation in 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 protects maternal genome from TET3-mediated conversion to 5hmC and subsequent DNA demethylation.