Promiscuous RNA binding by PRC2
Ontology highlight
ABSTRACT: Polycomb repressive complex-2 (PRC2) is a histone methyltransferase required for epigenetic silencing during development and cancer. Long non-coding RNAs (lncRNAs) recruit PRC2 to chromatin, but the general role of RNA in maintaining repressed chromatin is unknown. ChIP-seq, combined with RNA-seq, indicating that PRC2 is also associated with active genes, but most of these are not regulated by PRC2. These results were complemented by in vitro binding assays measuring the binding constant of human PRC2 to various RNAs and find comparable affinity for human lncRNAs targeted by PRC2 and irrelevant transcripts from ciliates and bacteria. PRC2 binding is size-dependent, with lower affinity for shorter RNAs. These findings support a model in which promiscuous binding of PRC2 to RNA transcripts allows it to scan for target genes that have escaped repression, leading to maintenance of the repressed state. Such RNAs may also provide a decoy for PRC2.
ORGANISM(S): Homo sapiens
PROVIDER: GSE50177 | GEO | 2013/09/28
SECONDARY ACCESSION(S): PRJNA217298
REPOSITORIES: GEO
ACCESS DATA