Transcriptomic and epigenomic analyses revealed that polycomb repressive complex 2 regulates not only developmental but also stress responsive metabolism in .

Polycomb group proteins (PcG) play a crucial role in developmental programs in eukaryotic organisms, including plants. PcG-mediated gene repression is achieved by epigenetic histone modification on target chromatins. Loss of PcG components leads to severe developmental defects. CURLY LEAF (CLF), a PcG component in , catalyzes the trimethylation of histone H3 on lysine 27 (H3K27me3), a repressive histone mark in numerous genes in . In this study, we isolated a single homolog of CLF, namely, BrCLF, in ssp. . Transcriptomic analysis revealed that BrCLF participated in developmental processes, such as seed dormancy, leaf and flower organ development, and floral transition. BrCLF was also involved in stress signaling and stress-responsive metabolism, such as aliphatic and indolic glucosinolate metabolism in . Epigenome analysis showed that H3K27me3 was substantially enriched in genes related to these developmental and stress-responsive processes. Thus, this study provided a basis for elucidating the molecular mechanism of the PcG-mediated regulation of development and stress responses in .