title: Sugarcoating Polycomb repression.
abstract: The addition of the monosaccharide O-GlcNAc is one of the most mysterious posttranslational modifications. In this issue of Developmental Cell, Gambetta and Müller (2014) show that O-GlcNAcylation of the Drosophila Polycomb group (PcG) protein Polyhomeotic (PH) is essential for homeotic gene silencing. O-GlcNAcylation counteracts nonproductive aggregation of PH, allowing transcriptional repression.
authors.affiliation: Department of Biochemistry, Erasmus University Medical Center, P.O. Box 1738, 3000 DR Rotterdam, the Netherlands. Electronic address: c.verrijzer@erasmusmc.nl.
authors.forename: C Peter
authors.initials: CP
authors.lastname: Verrijzer
mesh_terms: D000117:Acetylglucosamine / Q000378:metabolism*; D000818:Animals; D004268:DNA-Binding Proteins / Q000378:metabolism*; D029721:Drosophila Proteins / Q000378:metabolism*; D004331:Drosophila melanogaster / Q000378:metabolism*; D006801:Humans; D063150:Polycomb Repressive Complex 1 / Q000378:metabolism*; D012097:Repressor Proteins / Q000378:metabolism*
chemical_list: D004268:DNA-Binding Proteins; D029721:Drosophila Proteins; D012097:Repressor Proteins; C072820:ph-d protein, Drosophila; D063150:Polycomb Repressive Complex 1; D000117:Acetylglucosamine