Suppression of cryptic intragenic transcripts is required for embryonic stem cell self-renewal

Recent discoveries of histone demethylases have shown that the dynamic regulation of histone methylation is important in differentiation and development. A paper in this issue of The EMBO Journal demonstrates that an H3K4me3 demethylase, KDM5B, is required for the regulation of self-renewal and pluripotency of embryonic stem (ES) cells by removing intragenic H3K4me3 and repressing cryptic transcription.