Abstract: Ten-eleven translocation 3 (TET3), one member of TET family, is a dioxygenase that depends on Fe2+ and α-ketoglutarate (α-KG). TET3 can oxidize 5-methylcytosine (5-mC) to 5-hydroxymethylcytosine (5-hmC) and complete the regulation of gene expression. Studies showed that the expression of TET3 was not only up-regulated during neural differentiation, but also sustained during gametogenesis, and that TET3 played an important role in regulating the early embryonic development and activation. In other words, the TET3-mediated gene expression and regulation are involved in the mammalian reproduction and embryonic development. The structure of TET3 protein, the roles of TET3 in regulating gametogenesis and embryonic development, and other TET3-related biological functions, were reviewed in this paper, so as to promote the functional research of TET3 and the application in the field of life sciences.

Key words: Ten-eleven translocation 3;, 5-methylcytosine, DNA methylation, Gametogenesis, Embryonic development