diff --git a/jupytext/myst.py b/jupytext/myst.py
index ccb0db3a6..d63c8f37c 100644
--- a/jupytext/myst.py
+++ b/jupytext/myst.py
@@ -33,8 +33,7 @@ def is_myst_available():
 def raise_if_myst_is_not_available():
     if not is_myst_available():
         raise ImportError(
-            "The MyST Markdown format requires python >= 3.6 "
-            "and markdown-it-py~=0.6.0"
+            "The MyST Markdown format requires python >= 3.6 and markdown-it-py~=1.0"
         )
 
 
diff --git a/setup.py b/setup.py
index 48458331d..2d533f8f0 100644
--- a/setup.py
+++ b/setup.py
@@ -32,7 +32,12 @@
     packages=find_packages(exclude=["tests"]),
     entry_points={"console_scripts": ["jupytext = jupytext.cli:jupytext"]},
     tests_require=["pytest"],
-    install_requires=["nbformat", "pyyaml", "toml", "markdown-it-py~=0.6.0"],
+    install_requires=[
+        "nbformat",
+        "pyyaml",
+        "toml",
+        "markdown-it-py[plugins]>=1.0.0b3,<2.0.0",
+    ],
     python_requires="~=3.6",
     extras_require={
         # left for back-compatibility