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Related Experiment Videos

Dual functionality of cis-regulatory elements as developmental enhancers and Polycomb response elements.

Jelena Erceg1, Tibor Pakozdi1, Raquel Marco-Ferreres1

  • 1Genome Biology Unit, European Molecular Biology Laboratory (EMBL), Heidelberg D69117, Germany.

Genes & Development
|April 7, 2017
PubMed
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Developmental enhancers and Polycomb response elements (PREs) can have dual functions. Some enhancers act as PREs to silence genes, while some PREs activate gene expression, revealing regulatory element plasticity.

Area of Science:

  • Developmental Biology
  • Epigenetics
  • Gene Regulation

Background:

  • Developmental gene expression relies on enhancers for dynamic spatio-temporal activation and Polycomb response elements (PREs) for stable silencing.
  • Distinct cis-regulatory elements were traditionally believed to mediate these opposing functions.

Purpose of the Study:

  • To investigate the potential for shared regulatory elements mediating enhancer and PRE functions.
  • To explore the occupancy of the Drosophila pleiohomeotic repressive complex (PhoRC) at developmental enhancers.

Main Methods:

  • Examined PhoRC occupancy during Drosophila embryogenesis.
  • Utilized an in vivo assay to test PRE activity of developmental enhancers.
  • Assessed the enhancer activity of known Drosophila PREs in vivo.
Keywords:
Polycomb response elements (PREs)developmental enhancersembryonic developmentpleiohomeotic repressive complex (PhoRC)silencingspatio–temporal expressiontranscriptional repression

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Main Results:

  • Extensive co-occupancy of PhoRC was observed at developmental enhancers.
  • A subset of developmental enhancers demonstrated PRE activity, mediating Polycomb-dependent silencing.
  • Certain classic Drosophila PREs exhibited enhancer activity, driving spatio-temporal gene expression.

Conclusions:

  • Identified cis-regulatory elements with dual functions: acting as enhancers in some cells and PREs in others.
  • Suggests that the reuse of regulatory elements by the Polycomb group (PcG) system fine-tunes gene expression.
  • Proposes that this regulatory plasticity ensures the maintenance of cell identities during development.