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Transcription regulation

p300/CBP keeps chromatin silent

Nature Structural & Molecular Biology volume 29, page 1039 (2022)Cite this article

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Polycomb-group (PcG) proteins compact chromatin and silence genes by depositing repressive chromatin marks such as H3K27me3; how they then access DNA to sustain gene silencing was unclear. Hunt et al. found that, in Drosophila melanogaster, the histone acetyltransferase (HAT) CREB-binding protein (CBP) was present at many H3K27me3-enriched Polycomb response elements (PREs) together with PcG complexes throughout development. The sustained presence of PcG proteins at PREs was dependent on CBP but independent of its HAT activity.

CBP promoted the formation of paused RNA polymerase II, leading to nucleosome depletion and the formation of R-loops, which increased the accessibility of chromatin to PcG proteins. p300 (a homologue of CBP) also promoted nucleosome depletion and R-loop formation at the promoters of PcG-repressed genes in mouse embryonic stem (mES) cells.

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  1. Nature Structural & Molecular Biology https://www.nature.com/nsmb/

    Katharine H. Wrighton

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  1. Katharine H. Wrighton
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Correspondence to Katharine H. Wrighton.

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Wrighton, K.H. p300/CBP keeps chromatin silent. Nat Struct Mol Biol 29, 1039 (2022). https://doi.org/10.1038/s41594-022-00873-w

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