Abstract
PRC2 deposits the H3K27me3 repressive mark, which facilitates transcription repression of developmental genes. The decision of whether a particular gene is silenced at a given point during development is heavily dependent on the chromatin context. More than just a simple epigenetic writer, PRC2 employs several distinct chromatin reading capabilities to sense the local chromatin environment and modulate the H3K27me3 writer activity in a context-dependent manner. Here we discuss the complex interplay of PRC2 with the hallmarks of active and repressive chromatin, how it affects H3K27me3 deposition and how it guides transcriptional activity.
Highlights
Chromatin structure and epigenetic context are crucial regulatory factors for gene expression in eukaryotes
H3K36me3 binds to the aromatic cage of PCLs and facilitates the recruitment of polycomb repressive complex 2 (PRC2) to active genes that are to be repressed during the cell-differentiation process [30,31,32,33,34,35,36,37]
PRC2 expresses this information by writing its H3K27 mono, di- and tri-methyl mark in a context-dependent manner
Summary
Chromatin structure and epigenetic context are crucial regulatory factors for gene expression in eukaryotes. Certain repressive marks can stimulate PRC2 chromatin binding and catalysis, and trigger positive feedback loops to promote and maintain the repressed state of target genes. Allosteric activation of PRC2 by H3K27me3 initiates a positive feedback loop that allows the mark to spread into adjacent chromatin regions [15].
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