Roles of H3K27me2 and H3K27me3 Examined during Fate Specification of Embryonic Stem Cells

• DOI: 10.1016/j.celrep.2016.09.087
• Publication Date: 2016-10-25T17:01:23Z
• Authors: Aster H. Juan; Stan Wang; Kyung Dae Ko; Hossein Zare; Pei-Fang Tsai; Xuesong Feng; Karinna O. Vivanco; Anthony M. Ascoli; Gustavo Gutierrez...; Jordan Krebs; Simone Sidoli; Adam L. Knight; Roger A. Pedersen; Benjamin A. Garcia; Rafael Casellas; Jizhong Zou; Vittorio Sartorelli
• Keywords: PRC2

The polycomb repressive complex 2 (PRC2) methylates lysine 27 of histone H3 (H3K27) through its catalytic subunit Ezh2. PRC2-mediated di- and tri-methylation (H3K27me2/H3K27me3) have been interchangeably associated with gene repression. However, it remains unclear whether these two degrees H3K27 methylation different functions. In this study, we generated isogenic mouse embryonic stem cells (ESCs) a modified H3K27me2/H3K27me3 ratio. Our findings document dynamic developmental control in the genomic distribution H3K27me2 H3K27me3 at regulatory regions ESCs. They also reveal that modifying ratio is sufficient for acquisition repression defined cell lineage transcriptional programs phenotypes influences induction ESC ground state.