Butenko Yana, Ohad Nir
Department of Molecular Biology and Ecology of Plants, Tel-Aviv University, Israel.
Biochim Biophys Acta. 2011 Aug;1809(8):395-406. doi: 10.1016/j.bbagrm.2011.05.013. Epub 2011 Jun 6.
Polycomb Group (PcG) proteins form an epigenetic "memory system", conserved in both plants and animals, controlling global gene expression during development via histone modifications. The role of PcG proteins in plants was primarily explored in Arabidopsis thaliana, where PcG regulation of developmental processes was demonstrated throughout the plant life cycle. Our knowledge about the PcG machinery in terrestrial plants other than Arabidopsis began to accumulate only in recent years. In this review we summarize recent emerging data on the evolution and diversification of PcG mechanisms in various phyla, from early-diverging plants, including members of the Chlorophyte algae, through bryophytes and flowering plants. We describe the compositions of the PcG gene families, their so-far studied expression profiles, and finally summarize commonalities vs. differences among PcG functions across the various species. This article is part of a Special Issue entitled: Epigenetic control of cellular and developmental processes in plants.
多梳蛋白家族（PcG）形成一种表观遗传“记忆系统”，在植物和动物中都保守存在，通过组蛋白修饰在发育过程中控制全局基因表达。PcG蛋白在植物中的作用主要是在拟南芥中进行探索的，在拟南芥中，PcG对发育过程的调控在整个植物生命周期中都有体现。我们对除拟南芥之外的陆生植物中PcG机制的了解只是在近年来才开始积累。在这篇综述中，我们总结了各种门类中PcG机制进化和多样化的最新数据，这些门类涵盖了从早期分化的植物（包括绿藻门成员）到苔藓植物和开花植物。我们描述了PcG基因家族的组成、迄今为止所研究的它们的表达谱，最后总结了不同物种间PcG功能的共性与差异。本文是名为“植物细胞与发育过程的表观遗传控制”特刊的一部分。
