Assembly of Polycomb complexes and silencing mechanisms.
Polycomb complexes assemble at their target sites and silence neighboring genes when these are not actively transcribed. The action of these complexes and of Trithorax complexes bound to the Polycomb Response Element establish alternative silent or derepressed states that are remembered through cell division and maintained for the rest of development. Recent results that may help explain the properties of these states are reviewed.
Department of Zoology, University of Geneva, 30 quai Ernest Ansermet, CH-1211, Geneva, Switzerland. pirrotta@zoo.unige.ch
Vincenzo
V
Pirrotta
Sylvain
S
Poux
Raffaella
R
Melfi
Maxim
M
Pilyugin
D000818:Animals; D002843:Chromatin; D004268:DNA-Binding Proteins / Q000235:genetics*; D004330:Drosophila / Q000235:genetics*; D029721:Drosophila Proteins / Q000235:genetics*; D020868:Gene Silencing; D063150:Polycomb Repressive Complex 1; D014157:Transcription Factors
D002843:Chromatin; D004268:DNA-Binding Proteins; D029721:Drosophila Proteins; C066770:Pc protein, Drosophila; D014157:Transcription Factors; C063460:Trl protein, Drosophila; D063150:Polycomb Repressive Complex 1