ABSTRACT
The Polycomb PRC1 plays essential roles in development and disease pathogenesis. Targeting of PRC1 to chromatin is thought to be mediated by the Cbx family proteins (Cbx2/4/6/7/8) binding to histone H3 with a K27me3 modification (H3K27me3). Despite this prevailing view, the molecular mechanisms of targeting remain poorly understood. Here, by combining live-cell single-molecule tracking (SMT) and genetic engineering, we reveal that H3K27me3 contributes significantly to the targeting of Cbx7 and Cbx8 to chromatin, but less to Cbx2, Cbx4, and Cbx6. Genetic disruption of the complex formation of PRC1 facilitates the targeting of Cbx7 to chromatin. Biochemical analyses uncover that the CD and AT-hook-like (ATL) motif of Cbx7 constitute a functional DNA-binding unit. Live-cell SMT of Cbx7 mutants demonstrates that Cbx7 is targeted to chromatin by co-recognizing of H3K27me3 and DNA. Our data suggest a novel hierarchical cooperation mechanism by which histone modifications and DNA coordinate to target chromatin regulatory complexes.
Subject(s)
Chromatin/metabolism , DNA/metabolism , Histones/metabolism , Polycomb Repressive Complex 1/metabolism , Animals , Cells, Cultured , Mice , Models, Biological , Mouse Embryonic Stem Cells , Protein Binding , Single Molecule ImagingABSTRACT
Polycomb group (PcG) proteins are epigenetic transcriptional factors that repress key developmental regulators and maintain cellular identity through mitosis via a poorly understood mechanism. Using quantitative live-cell imaging in mouse ES cells and tumor cells, we demonstrate that, although Polycomb repressive complex (PRC) 1 proteins (Cbx-family proteins, Ring1b, Mel18, and Phc1) exhibit variable capacities of association with mitotic chromosomes, Cbx2 overwhelmingly binds to mitotic chromosomes. The recruitment of Cbx2 to mitotic chromosomes is independent of PRC1 or PRC2, and Cbx2 is needed to recruit PRC1 complex to mitotic chromosomes. Quantitative fluorescence recovery after photobleaching analysis indicates that PRC1 proteins rapidly exchange at interphasic chromatin. On entry into mitosis, Cbx2, Ring1b, Mel18, and Phc1 proteins become immobilized at mitotic chromosomes, whereas other Cbx-family proteins dynamically bind to mitotic chromosomes. Depletion of PRC1 or PRC2 protein has no effect on the immobilization of Cbx2 on mitotic chromosomes. We find that the N-terminus of Cbx2 is needed for its recruitment to mitotic chromosomes, whereas the C-terminus is required for its immobilization. Thus these results provide fundamental insights into the molecular mechanisms of epigenetic inheritance.
