PcG Complexes Set the Stage for Epigenetic Inheritance of Gene Silencing in Early S Phase before Replication

Abstract

Polycomb group (PcG) proteins are part of a conserved cell memory system that conveys epigenetic inheritance of silenced transcriptional states through cell division. Despite the considerable amount of information about PcG mechanisms controlling gene silencing, how PcG proteins maintain repressive chromatin during epigenome duplication is still unclear. Here we identified a specific time window, the early S phase, in which PcG proteins are recruited at BX-C PRE target sites in concomitance with H3K27me3 repressive mark deposition. Notably, these events precede and are uncoupled from PRE replication timing, which occurs in late S phase when most epigenetic signatures are reduced. These findings shed light on one of the key mechanisms for PcG–mediated epigenetic inheritance during S phase, suggesting a conserved model in which the PcG–dependent H3K27me3 mark is inherited by dilution and not by de novo methylation occurring at the time of replication.

Author Summary

During embryonic development, pluripotent cells divide and use their potential to differentiate into a variety of cells with identical genomes but different phenotypes. The emerging concept suggests that the DNA sequence information is not the sole determinant of cell identity. Indeed, epigenetic mechanisms, acting via chromatin organization, control transcriptome complexity and contribute to maintain cell fate. Polycomb-group proteins (PcG) are epigenetic transcriptional regulators that maintaining gene silencing programs through cell division. During S phase, in addition to DNA, the entire epigenome needs to be duplicated. A key question that remains to be addressed is how epigenetic marks are transmitted to subsequent generations. In this study we propose a model for PcG epigenetic inheritance during replication. We found that, during S phase, PcG engagement and characteristic H3K27me3 histone mark deposition on target sites are restricted to a brief interval occurring before DNA replication of the same regions. By increasing the dose of PcG binding the system would prevent potential weakening of silencing control, which is challenged at the time of replication, allowing proper transmission of epigenetic marks to the next generation and preservation of cell identity.