Seminar "Maintenance of Polycomb gene silencing depends on H3 variants in plants"

Dear All,

Plant Epigenetics Unit (Saze unit) would like to invite you to a seminar by Prof. Frederic Berger.

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Date: Monday, December 4^th, 2017
Time:14:00-15:00
Venue: C700, Lab 3
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Speaker: Prof. Frederic Berger, Senior Group Leader, Gregor Mendel Institute of Molecular Plant Biology, Vienna, Austria

Title: "Maintenance of Polycomb gene silencing depends on H3 variants in plants"

Abstract:

Propagation of patterns of gene expression through the cell cycle requires prompt restoration of epigenetic marks after the twofold dilution caused by DNA replication. We show that plants evolved a mechanism for efficient K27 trimethylation on H3.1, which is essential for inheritance of the silencing memory from mother to daughter cells. The transcriptional repressive mark histone H3 lysine 27 trimethylation (H3K27me3) is restored in replicating plant cells through DNA replication-coupled modification of histone variant H3.1.¹ In non dividing cells, the maintenance of H3K27me3 is relayed by ATRX, which controls H3.3 deposition. We illustrate how H3 variants collaborate to assist H3K27me3 mediated silencing during the developmental transition to flowering.

¹Jiang D and Berger F. (2017) Science. DOI: 10.1126/science.aan4965