Source

Rabbit

Reactivity

Human;Mouse;Rat;Monkey

Background

Ring1A plays a role in polycomb group protein function. PcG proteins are critically involved in transcriptional repression of Hox genes during development. PcG proteins form two distinct complexes: EED-EZH2 and the PRC complex, which is composed of at least Bmi1 and Ring1A/Ring1B. The EZH2-containing complex is responsible for the methylation of H3K27, and the PRC complex ubiquitylates H2A. EZH2 methylation is required prior to PRC ubiquitylation, and both are essential for Hox gene repression. It has recently been shown that PcG proteins silence a group of developmentally important regulator genes, referred to as bivalent genes. This regulation may be responsible for the ability of stem cells to self renew or switch to differentiate into multipotent progenitors. Aberrant epigenetic silencing by PcG proteins is also thought to be important in tumorigenesis.

References

[1] Cao, R. et al. (2005) Mol Cell 20, 845-54.
[2] Otte, A.P. and Kwaks, T.H. (2003) Curr Opin Genet Dev 13, 448-54.
[3] Stock, J.K. et al. (2007) Nat Cell Biol 9, 1428-35.
[4] Sparmann, A. and van Lohuizen, M. (2006) Nat Rev Cancer 6, 846-56.

Raw materials

Preparation Products