Uncoupled evolution of the Polycomb system and deep origin of non-canonical PRC1
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Abstract
Polycomb group proteins, as part of the Polycomb repressive complexes, are essential in gene repression through chromatin compaction by canonical PRC1, mono-ubiquitylation of histone H2A by non-canonical PRC1 and tri-methylation of histone H3K27 by PRC2. Despite prevalent models emphasizing tight functional coupling between PRC1 and PRC2, it remains unclear whether this paradigm indeed reflects the evolution and functioning of these complexes. Here, we conduct a comprehensive analysis of the presence or absence of cPRC1, nPRC1 and PRC2 across the entire eukaryotic tree of life, and find that both complexes were present in the Last Eukaryotic Common Ancestor (LECA). Strikingly, ~42% of organisms contain only PRC1 or PRC2, showing that their evolution since LECA is largely uncoupled. The identification of ncPRC1-defining subunits in unicellular relatives of animals and fungi suggests ncPRC1 originated before cPRC1, and we propose a scenario for the evolution of cPRC1 from ncPRC1. Together, our results suggest that crosstalk between these complexes is a secondary development in evolution.
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Cites
Highly accurate protein structure prediction with AlphaFold
Jumper, J., Evans, R., Pritzel, A., Green, T., Figurnov, M., Ronneberger, O., Tunyasuvunakool, K., Bates, R., Žídek, A., Potapenko, A., et al. (2021) · Nature · doi:10.1038/s41586-021-03819-2 · Cited by 43,764 · see citing works
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Molecular mechanisms directing PRC2 recruitment and H3K27 methylation
Laugesen, A., Højfeldt, J. W., & Helin, K. (2019) · Molecular Cell · doi:10.1016/j.molcel.2019.03.011 · Cited by 602 · cited 1× · see citing works
“The catalytic core of PRC2 comprises the methyltransferase EZH associated with EED, SUZ12 and RBBP (or their paralogs) 10,11 .”
Synergy between Variant PRC1 Complexes Defines Polycomb-Mediated Gene Repression
Fursova, N. A., Blackledge, N. P., Nakayama, M., Ito, S., Koseki, Y., Farcas, A. M., King, H. W., Koseki, H., & Klose, R. J. (2019) · Molecular Cell · doi:10.1016/j.molcel.2019.03.024 · Cited by 267 · see citing works
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- Authors
- de Potter, B., Raas, M. W. D., Seidl, M. F., Verrijzer, C. P., & Snel, B.
- Affiliations
- Royal Netherlands Academy of Arts and Sciences (NL)
- Utrecht University (NL)
- Erasmus MC (NL)
- Corresponding author
- Snel, Berend
- Venue
- Communications Biology
- Published
- 2023-11-10
- Volume
- 6
- Issue
- 1
- Pages
- 1144-1144
- ISSN
- 2399-3642 (ISSN-L)
- PMC
- PMC10638273
- OpenAlex
- W4388566557
- Cited by
- 27
- References
- 4
- Citations by year
- 2026: 8 · 2025: 10 · 2024: 6 · 2023: 3
- FWCI
- 2.41
- Type
- journal article
- Language
- en
- Open access
- gold
- doi.org
- Locations
- Communications Biology (publishedVersion, cc-by)
- bioRxiv (Cold Spring Harbor Laboratory) (acceptedVersion, cc-by)
- PubMed Central (publishedVersion, cc-by)
- PubMed (publishedVersion)
- EUR Research Repository (Erasmus University Rotterdam) (publishedVersion, cc-by)
- DOAJ (DOAJ: Directory of Open Access Journals) (submittedVersion, cc-by-sa)
- Utrecht University Repository (Utrecht University) (submittedVersion, other-oa)
- Funders
- Nederlandse Organisatie voor Wetenschappelijk Onderzoek (NWO-Vici 016.160.638)
- Topics
- Life Sciences › Biochemistry, Genetics and Molecular Biology › Molecular Biology › Epigenetics and DNA Methylation
- Life Sciences › Biochemistry, Genetics and Molecular Biology › Molecular Biology › Genomics and Chromatin Dynamics
- Life Sciences › Agricultural and Biological Sciences › Plant Science › Chromosomal and Genetic Variations
- Keywords
- Polycomb group proteins, PRC1, polycomb repressive complex 2, polycomb repressive complex, H3K27me3, gene repression, chromatin condensation, gene regulatory evolution, last eukaryotic common ancestor, eukaryotic phylogeny, unicellular eukaryotes
- MeSH terms
- Animals, Chromatin, Histones, Ubiquitination, Polycomb-Group Proteins, Polycomb Repressive Complex 1
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