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EPIGENOMICS

RNA closing the Polycomb circle

Nature Genetics volume 52, pages 866–867 (2020)Cite this article

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Binding of RNA to the gene expression regulator Polycomb repressive complex 2 (PRC2) has been proposed to antagonize PRC2’s chromatin recruitment. A new study now shows that RNA is in fact critical for correct recruitment of PRC2 at its target genes in human pluripotent stem cells and suggests that interplay of PRC2 and RNA can fine-tune PRC2’s regulatory role.

Since the pioneering work in 2007 on Hox gene silencing by PRC2 recruitment mediated by the long intergenic noncoding RNA HOTAIR4, understanding the roles of RNAs in PRC2 biology has been a priority. Biochemically, PRC2 can bind RNA both in vitro and in vivo in a largely non-sequence-specific manner, although it favors GC-rich sequences or G-quadruplexes5,6. Promiscuity in RNA binding, together with the finding that RNA interactions hinder PRC2 activity7, has led many researchers to suggest the hypothesis that interactions with RNA might be a mechanism to prevent PRC2 from engaging with chromatin.

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Fig. 1: Chromatin features influencing PRC2 occupancy.

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. Center for Genomic Regulation, Barcelona, Spain

    Ivano Mocavini & Luciano Di Croce

  2. Barcelona Institute of Science and Technology, Barcelona, Spain

    Ivano Mocavini & Luciano Di Croce

  3. ICREA, Barcelona, Spain

    Luciano Di Croce

  4. Pompeu Fabra University, Barcelona, Spain

    Luciano Di Croce

Authors
  1. Ivano Mocavini
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  2. Luciano Di Croce
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Correspondence to Ivano Mocavini or Luciano Di Croce.

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The authors declare no competing interests.

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Mocavini, I., Di Croce, L. RNA closing the Polycomb circle. Nat Genet 52, 866–867 (2020). https://doi.org/10.1038/s41588-020-0683-5

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