Related Experiment Video
Updated: Apr 18, 2026

Exploring Sequence Space to Identify Binding Sites for Regulatory RNA-Binding Proteins
Published on: August 9, 2019
Toward a consensus on the binding specificity and promiscuity of PRC2 for RNA
Chen Davidovich1, Xueyin Wang1, Catherine Cifuentes-Rojas2
1Howard Hughes Medical Institute, Department of Chemistry and Biochemistry, BioFrontiers Institute, University of Colorado, Boulder, CO 80309, USA.
None:
Polycomb repressive complex-2 (PRC2) is a histone methyltransferase required for epigenetic silencing during development and cancer. Early works suggested binding specificity of PRC2 to certain long non-coding RNAs for recruitment to chromatin. More recent studies provided evidence both in favor and against this idea. Here, we bridge the two existing models of PRC2-RNA interaction. RepA RNA is a good binding partner for PRC2, while multiple non-relevant RNAs, including bacterial mRNAs, also bind PRC2; Kds depend to some extent on the experimental conditions. Human and mouse PRC2 have broadly similar RNA-binding properties in vitro. Examination of evidence supporting an existing model for site-specific recruitment of PRC2 by a well-defined RNA motif in cells reveals that results are PRC2 independent. We conclude that promiscuous and specific RNA-binding activities of PRC2 in vitro are not mutually exclusive, and that binding specificity in vivo remains to be demonstrated.
Related Concept Videos
Cooperative Binding of Transcription Regulators
Eukaryotic RNA Polymerases
All three eukaryotic RNAPs require specific transcription factors, of which the...
Transcription Initiation
The promoters and enhancers and their accessory proteins allow tight regulation of...
Conserved Binding Sites
Binding sites are often located in large pockets, and if their location on a protein’s surface is unknown, it can be predicted using various approaches. The energetic method computationally...
Bacterial RNA Polymerase
In most genes, the transcription site is a single base present upstream of the coding sequence. Though RNAP is a catalytically efficient enzyme, it does not recognize...
RNA Polymerase II Accessory Proteins

