A genetic approach to the recruitment of PRC2 at the HoxD locus.
Polycomb group (PcG) proteins are essential for the repression of key factors during early development. In Drosophila, the polycomb repressive complexes (PRC) associate with defined polycomb response DNA elements (PREs). In mammals, however, the mechanisms underlying polycomb recruitment at targeted loci are poorly understood. We have used an in vivo approach to identify DNA sequences of importance for the proper recruitment of polycomb proteins at the HoxD locus. We report that various genomic re-arrangements of the gene cluster do not strongly affect PRC2 recruitment and that relatively small polycomb interacting sequences appear necessary and sufficient to confer polycomb recognition and targeting to ectopic loci. In addition, a high GC content, while not sufficient to recruit PRC2, may help its local spreading. We discuss the importance of PRC2 recruitment over Hox gene clusters in embryonic stem cells, for their subsequent coordinated transcriptional activation during development.
National Research Center 'Frontiers in Genetics', Geneva, Switzerland ; School of Life Sciences, Federal Institute of Technology (EPFL), Lausanne, Switzerland.
Patrick
P
Schorderet
Nicolas
N
Lonfat
Fabrice
F
Darbellay
Patrick
P
Tschopp
Sandra
S
Gitto
Natalia
N
Soshnikova
Denis
D
Duboule
D000818:Animals; D001482:Base Composition; D002843:Chromatin / Q000235:genetics; D004247:DNA / Q000235:genetics; D029721:Drosophila Proteins / Q000235:genetics* / Q000378:metabolism; D004331:Drosophila melanogaster / Q000235:genetics* / Q000254:growth & development; D053595:Embryonic Stem Cells / Q000378:metabolism; D011495:Histone-Lysine N-Methyltransferase / Q000235:genetics* / Q000378:metabolism; D018398:Homeodomain Proteins / Q000235:genetics*; D011485:Protein Binding / Q000235:genetics; D020218:Response Elements / Q000235:genetics*
D002843:Chromatin; D029721:Drosophila Proteins; D018398:Homeodomain Proteins; D004247:DNA; D011495:Histone-Lysine N-Methyltransferase; C524066:PRC2 protein, Drosophila