“Father knows best?”

Following fertilization, activation of a complex developmental program requires the differential expression of key genes. In most metazoa, the prevailing view is that early differential gene expression occurs primarily through post‐transcriptional regulation of maternally deposited products in the oocyte. Two novel studies published from the Rajewsky laboratory in this issue of The EMBO Journal add significantly to the emerging notion that this process may be more complex than previously appreciated.