Department of Molecular and Cellular Biology, Harvard University, Cambridge, MA, USA.
Cell Cycle. 2009 Nov 1;8(21):3521-6. doi: 10.4161/cc.8.21.9876. Epub 2009 Nov 21.
A key problem in gene regulation is how transcription patterns can be stably maintained in dividing cells. The formation and propagation of chromatin structures is believed to underlie stable gene expression patterns, including those maintained by Polycomb Group proteins. Recent studies focused on how Polycomb Group proteins and the chromatin structures they create behave during DNA replication and have begun to shed light onto mechanisms by which chromatin structures may be propagated through S-phase. These studies suggest that both segregation of chromatin features to newly replicated chromatin and a feedback loop consisting of histone modification and recognition of this modification may contribute to inheritance. Results are discussed in light of other links between Polycomb proteins and DNA replication, and other systems in which maintenance of repression is believed to involve propagation of heritable chromatin structures.
基因调控中的一个关键问题是如何在分裂细胞中稳定维持转录模式。染色质结构的形成和传播被认为是稳定基因表达模式的基础，包括那些由 Polycomb 蛋白维持的模式。最近的研究集中在 Polycomb 蛋白及其形成的染色质结构在 DNA 复制过程中的行为，并开始揭示染色质结构如何在 S 期传播的机制。这些研究表明，染色质特征的分离到新复制的染色质和由组蛋白修饰和对这种修饰的识别组成的反馈环都可能有助于遗传。结果是根据 Polycomb 蛋白与 DNA 复制之间的其他联系以及其他被认为涉及可遗传染色质结构维持的系统进行讨论的。
