Summary
The Polycomb repression complex 2 (PRC2) methylates histone H3 lysine 27 at target genes to modify gene expression, and this mark is recognized by PRC1, which ubiquitylates histone H2A. In Caenorhabditis elegans, a complex of the MES-2, MES-3 and MES-6 proteins is functionally analogous to the PRC2 complex, but the functional analog of PRC1, and indeed whether C. elegans has such a complex, has been unclear. We describe here that MIG-32 and SPAT-3A are functional analogs of PRC1 in C. elegans, where they are required for neuronal migrations and during vulval development. mig-32 and spat-3 mutants are defective in H2A ubiquitylation, and have nervous system defects that partially overlap with those of mes mutants. However, unlike the mes mutants, mig-32 and spat-3 mutants are fertile, suggesting that PRC1 function is not absolutely required in the germline for essential functions of PRC2.
Footnotes
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We thank Jean Maines and Leon Avery for comments on the manuscript. We also thank Yuji Kohara for mig-32 cDNAs, the Mitani laboratory for the mig-32(tm1807) and tm1684 deletion alleles, the Horvitz lab for the mig-32(n4275) deletion allele, and the CGC for many nematode strains used in this work (the CGC is funded by the NIH National Center for Research Resources). This work was supported by NIH grant GM069667 to S.C. Deposited in PMC for release after 12 months.
- Accepted January 9, 2009.
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