Dulbecco Telethon Institute, Epigenetics and Genome Reprogramming, IRCCS Santa Lucia Foundation, 00143 Rome, Italy.
Annu Rev Genet. 2012;46:561-89. doi: 10.1146/annurev-genet-110711-155603. Epub 2012 Sep 17.
The first genes composing the Polycomb group (PcG) were identified 50 years ago in Drosophila melanogaster as essential developmental functions that regulate the correct segmental expression of homeotic selector genes. In the past two decades, what was initially described as a large family of chromatin-associated proteins involved in the maintenance of transcriptional repression to maintain cellular memory of homeotic genes turned out to be a highly conserved and sophisticated network of epigenetic regulators that play key roles in multiple aspects of cell physiology and identity, including regulation of all developmental genes, cell differentiation, stem and somatic cell reprogramming and response to environmental stimuli. These myriad phenotypes further spread interest for the contribution that PcG proteins revealed in the pathogenesis and progression of cancer and other complex diseases. Recent novel insights have increasingly clarified the molecular regulatory mechanisms at the basis of PcG-mediated epigenetic silencing and opened new visions about PcG functions in cells. In this review, we focus on the multiple modes of action of the PcG complexes and describe their biological roles.
第一个多梳抑制复合物（PcG）基因是 50 年前在果蝇中被鉴定出来的，它们作为重要的发育功能，调节同源选择基因的正确节段表达。在过去的二十年中，最初被描述为一组涉及维持转录抑制的染色质相关蛋白的大家族，结果被证明是一个高度保守和复杂的表观遗传调控网络，在细胞生理和身份的多个方面发挥关键作用，包括所有发育基因的调控、细胞分化、干细胞和体细胞重编程以及对环境刺激的反应。这些众多的表型进一步引起了人们对 PcG 蛋白在癌症和其他复杂疾病的发病机制和进展中的作用的关注。最近的新发现越来越清楚地阐明了 PcG 介导的表观遗传沉默的分子调控机制，并为 PcG 在细胞中的功能开辟了新的视野。在这篇综述中，我们专注于 PcG 复合物的多种作用模式，并描述它们的生物学作用。
