Differentiating Drosophila female germ cells initiate Polycomb silencing by regulating PRC2-interacting proteins.

ABSTRACT: Polycomb silencing represses gene expression and provides a molecular memory of chromatin state that is essential for animal development. We show that Drosophila female germline stem cells (GSCs) provide a powerful system for studying Polycomb silencing. GSCs have a non-canonical distribution of PRC2 activity and lack silenced chromatin like embryonic progenitors. As GSC daughters differentiate into nurse cells and oocytes, nurse cells, like embryonic somatic cells, silence genes in traditional Polycomb domains and in generally inactive chromatin. Developmentally controlled expression of two Polycomb repressive complex 2 (PRC2)-interacting proteins, Pcl and Scm, initiate silencing during differentiation. In GSCs, abundant Pcl inhibits PRC2-dependent silencing globally, while in nurs

SUBMITTER: DeLuca SZ 

PROVIDER: S-EPMC7438113 | biostudies-literature | 2020 Aug

REPOSITORIES: biostudies-literature