ChIP assay on Xenopus tropicalis tadpole intestines was done as described previously (40 (link)) with an antibody against TR (anti-TR) (38 (link)), RNA Polymerase II (abcam, Cambridge, MA), or methylated histone H3K79 (anti-H3K79m2, abcam, Cambridge, MA), and with IgG as a negative control, by using Chromatin Immunoprecipitation (ChIP) Assay kit (Millipore, Burlington, MA). Each sample had three replicas and each replica included at least 5 tadpoles. The immunoprecipitated DNA was analyzed by qPCR with SYBR Green PCR Master Mix on a StepOne Plus Real-Time PCR System (Applied Biosystems, Foster City, CA). For the analysis of MBD3 TRE, primers 5’-ATGCCCGCCTACTCTTTATTCCTCCAGCTGC-3’ (forward) and 5’-GAGAGAGAGTCAGTGTGGTGGTGGGTCAGA-3’ (reverse) were used. All ChIP experiments were done twice with similar results.