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Title: Cryo-EM structures of PRC2 simultaneously engaged with two functionally distinct nucleosomes

Journal Article · · Nature Structural & Molecular Biology
ORCiD logo [1];  [1]; ORCiD logo [2]
  1. Univ. of California, Berkeley, CA (United States). California Inst. for Quantitative Biology (QB3); Lawrence Berkeley National Lab. (LBNL), Berkeley, CA (United States). Molecular Biophysics and Integrative Bio-Imaging Div.
  2. Univ. of California, Berkeley, CA (United States). California Inst. for Quantitative Biology (QB3), Howard Hughes Medical Inst., and Dept. of Molecular and Cell Biology; Lawrence Berkeley National Lab. (LBNL), Berkeley, CA (United States). Molecular Biophysics and Integrative Bio-Imaging Div.

Epigenetic regulation is mediated by protein complexes that couple recognition of chromatin marks to activity or recruitment of chromatin-modifying enzymes. Polycomb repressive complex 2 (PRC2), a gene silencer that methylates lysine 27 of histone H3, is stimulated upon recognition of its own catalytic product and has been shown to be more active on dinucleosomes than H3 tails or single nucleosomes. These properties probably facilitate local H3K27me2/3 spreading, causing heterochromatin formation and gene repression. Here, cryo-EM reconstructions of human PRC2 bound to bifunctional dinucleosomes show how a single PRC2, via interactions with nucleosomal DNA, positions the H3 tails of the activating and substrate nucleosome to interact with the EED subunit and the SET domain of EZH2, respectively. We show how the geometry of the PRC2–DNA interactions allows PRC2 to accommodate varying lengths of the linker DNA between nucleosomes. Furthermore, our structures illustrate how an epigenetic regulator engages with a complex chromatin substrate.

Research Organization:
Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory (LBNL), Berkeley, CA (United States). National Energy Research Scientific Computing Center (NERSC)
Sponsoring Organization:
USDOE Office of Science (SC)
Grant/Contract Number:
AC02-05CH11231
OSTI ID:
1490278
Journal Information:
Nature Structural & Molecular Biology, Vol. 25, Issue 2; ISSN 1545-9993
Publisher:
Nature Publishing GroupCopyright Statement
Country of Publication:
United States
Language:
English
Citation Metrics:
Cited by: 117 works
Citation information provided by
Web of Science

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Cited By (23)

Polycomb Repressive Complex 2: Modulator Development for Functional Regulation of a Multiprotein Complex by Using Structural Information journal July 2019
Cryo-EM in drug discovery: achievements, limitations and prospects journal June 2018
Sperm-inherited H3K27me3 impacts offspring transcription and development in C. elegans journal March 2019
Theoretical analysis of Polycomb-Trithorax systems predicts that poised chromatin is bistable and not bivalent journal May 2019
H3.3K27M-induced chromatin changes drive ectopic replication through misregulation of the JNK pathway in C. elegans journal June 2019
Cryo-EM structure of the human MLL1 core complex bound to the nucleosome journal December 2019
Old cogs, new tricks: the evolution of gene expression in a chromatin context journal March 2019
Structural basis of nucleosome recognition and modification by MLL methyltransferases journal September 2019
Nucleosome structure and dynamics are coming of age journal December 2018
RNA exploits an exposed regulatory site to inhibit the enzymatic activity of PRC2 journal March 2019
G-tract RNA removes Polycomb repressive complex 2 from genes journal September 2019
The EZH2 SANT1 domain is a histone reader providing sensitivity to the modification state of the H4 tail journal January 2019
Chromatin fiber structural motifs as regulatory hubs of genome function? journal April 2019
Mechanistic insights into histone deposition and nucleosome assembly by the chromatin assembly factor-1 journal September 2018
PRC2 is high maintenance journal May 2019
Regulation of histone methylation by automethylation of PRC2 journal September 2019
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The EZH2 SANT1 Domain is a Histone Reader Providing Sensitivity to the Modification State of the H4 Tail journal February 2018
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G-tracts give PRC2 the boot journal October 2019
The in situ structures of mono-, di-, and trinucleosomes in human heterochromatin journal October 2018
Lysine Acetyltransferase Inhibitors From Natural Sources journal August 2020

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