The C-elegans Polycomb gene sop-2 encodes an RNA binding protein

被引：46

作者：

Zhang, H

Christoforou, A

Aravind, L

Emmons, SW

van den Heuvel, S

Haber, DA ^{[1
]}

机构：

[1] Massachusetts Gen Hosp, Ctr Canc, Charlestown, MA 02139 USA

[2] Harvard Univ, Sch Med, Charlestown, MA 02139 USA

[3] Natl Ctr Biotechnol Informat, Computat Biol Branch, Bethesda, MD 20894 USA

[4] Yeshiva Univ Albert Einstein Coll Med, Dept Mol Genet, Bronx, NY 10461 USA

来源：

MOLECULAR CELL | 2004年 / 14卷 / 06期

关键词：

D O I：

10.1016/j.molcel.2004.06.001

中图分类号：

Q5 [生物化学]; Q7 [分子生物学];

学科分类号：

071010 ; 081704 ;

摘要：

Epigenetic silencing of Hox cluster genes by Polycomb group (PcG) proteins is thought to involve the formation of a stably inherited repressive chromatin structure. Here we show that the C. elegans-specific PcG protein SOP-2 directly binds to RNA through three nonoverlapping regions, each of which is essential for its localization to characteristic nuclear bodies and for its in vivo function in the repression of Hox genes. Functional studies indicate that the RNA involved in SOP-2 binding is distinct from either siRNA or microRNA. Remarkably, the vertebrate PcG protein Rae28, which is functionally and structurally related to SOP-2, also binds to RNA through an FCS finger domain. Substitution of the Rae28 FCS finger for the essential RNA binding region of SOP-2 partially restores localization to nuclear bodies. These observations suggest that direct binding to RNA is an evolutionarily conserved and potentially important property of PcG proteins.

引用

页码：841 / 847

页数：7

共 27 条

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