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A unified mode of epigenetic gene silencing: RNA meets polycomb group proteins
1National Institute of Biological Sciences, Beijing, PR China.
Abstract:
Recently, an essential role for RNA in the epigenetic silencing of genes packaged within heterochromatin in animals has been recognized. The RNA appears to be involved in targeting chromatin remodeling activity to a specific locus and in later maintaining the repressed state of the gene. Epigenetic silencing of Hox cluster genes by the Polycomb group proteins also involves the formation of a stably inherited repressive chromatin structure. Recent studies of the C. elegans PcG gene sop-2 reveled an evolutionarily conserved property of PcG proteins in the binding of RNA, suggesting an important role for RNA in PcG-mediated Hox gene repression.
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