Polycomb repressive complex 2 regulates normal development of the mouse heart.

ABSTRACT:

Rationale

Epigenetic marks are crucial for organogenesis, but their role in heart development is poorly understood. Polycomb repressive complex 2 (PRC2) trimethylates histone H3 at lysine 27, which establishes H3K27me3 repressive epigenetic marks that promote tissue-specific differentiation by silencing ectopic gene programs.

Objective

We studied the function of PRC2 in murine heart development using a tissue-restricted conditional inactivation strategy.

Methods and results

Inactivation of the PRC2 subunit Ezh2 by Nkx2-5(Cre) (Ezh2(NK)) caused lethal congenital heart malformations, namely, compact myocardial hypoplasia, hypertrabeculation, and ventricular septal defect. Candidate and genome-wide RNA expression profiling and chromatin immunoprecipitation analyses of Ez

SUBMITTER: He A 

PROVIDER: S-EPMC3282145 | biostudies-literature | 2012 Feb

REPOSITORIES: biostudies-literature