Thymocyte nuclei were microinjected into the cytoplasm of parthenogenetic mouse eggs within 60 min or 3 h after egg activation and DNA replication and RNA synthesis were analysed in remodelled thymocyte nuclei and female pronuclei. We show that thymocyte nuclei which transform into pronucleus-like nuclei (thymocytes injected not later than 60 min after activation) enter S-phase 1 h earlier than the female pronuclei. At the beginning of the first cell cycle they remain transcriptionally silent, but in G2 undertake transcription earlier than the female pronuclei. Partly remodelled thymocyte nuclei (injected 3 h after activation) start to replicate DNA at the same time as the female pronuclei. They reinitiate RNA synthesis within 2 h after transfer and continue to transcribe irrespective of the transcriptional activity of the female pronucleus. We show that the observed transcription is only nuclear, i.e. RNA polymerase II-dependent.