Yue Zhou, Ph.D.
Plant chromatin status research group
Assistant Professor, School of Advanced Agricultural Sciences, Peking University
tel：
E-mail：yue_zhou@pku.edu.cn
1. The molecular mechanism of PcG proteins mediated gene repression in plants
2. The plant chromatin status regulation
Polycomb group (PcG) proteins play an important role in plants and animals development regulation. Our group mainly focuses on elucidating the molecular mechanisms of PcG proteins mediated gene repression and chromatin status.
Firstly, PcG proteins function by forming large complexes, including PRC1 and PRC2. As none of the PcG proteins could bind to DNA directly, how PcG proteins recognizing target gene is always a key question in the field. My previous study revealed that plant PRC2 could be recruited by specific cis-elements and trans-factors to target gene region. Compared to PRC2, plant PRC1 is significantly different from animal PRC1, which has plant specificity. Our group identified several potential proteins that may involve in PRC1 recruitment by IP-MS and yeast two hybrid screening. Some of them are DNA binding proteins, others are chromatin regulation factors. We will investigate these proteins function related PRC1 recruitment and gene repression through a combined genetics and molecular biologyapproaches.
Secondly, PcG proteins repress target gene transcription by depositing H3K27me3/H2AK121ub1 and compacting chromatin. However, how PcG mediated histone modifications regulating chromatin compaction is elusive. We have described the chromatin status in plants by epigenome sequencing combined with the genome-wide binding data of transcription factors. In the next step, we will focus on exploring the role of PcG protein in this process.
Luo LX, Yang MQ, Song ZH, Liu YL, Xiao SX, Wang DY, Calonje M, He H, Zhou Y. (2025) PRC1-mediated H2Aub loop formation and function in Arabidopsis. Adv. Sci., 12: e04377.
Zhang YF, Huang RZ, Yang TT, Li A, Wang ZH, Wu YX, Deng Y, Zhang J, He XQ, Zhou Y. (2025) PRC2 regulates cytokinin and HD-ZIP III pathways to orchestrate vascular tissue pattern formation in Arabidopsis. Plant Cell, 37: koaf194.
Song ZH,Xia QM,Yang MQ,Yang TT,Liu YL,Wang DY,Shu JY,Liu ZY,Chi Y,Xu HM,Xing D,Zhou Y. (2025) Dynamic changes in 3D chromatin structure during male gametogenesis inArabidopsis thaliana. Genome Biol., 26: 27.
Xiao SX, Luo LX, Yang MQ, He H, Zhou Y. (2025) CFine-scale 3D chromatin architectures and their regulatory mechanisms in plants. Curr. Opin. Plant Biol., 88: 102786.
Luo LX, Yang MQ, Zhou Y. (2025) BMI1s interact with condensin complexes to regulate chromatin 3D structure and gene expression in Arabidopsis. aBIOTECH, 6: 424-440.
LiuYL, Xiao SX, Yang MQ, Guo GQ, Zhou Y. (2025) The impact of polycomb group proteins on 3d chromatin structure and environmental stresses in plants. Plants, 14: 1038.
Shu JY, Xiao SX, Wang DY, Yang MQ, Zhou Y. (2025) Protocol for capturing genome-wide chromatin interactions in Arabidopsis. STAR Protoc., 6: 103702.
Yang TT, Wang DY, Luo LX, Yin XC, Song ZH, Yang MQ, Zhou Y. (2024) PWOs repress gene transcription by regulating chromatin structures in Arabidopsis. Nucl. Acids Res., 52: 12918-12929.
Shu JY, Sun LH, Wang DY, Yin XC, Yang MQ, Yang ZJ, Gao Z, He YH, Calonje M, Lai JS, Deng XW, He H, Zhou Y. (2024) EMF1 functions as a 3D chromatin modulator in Arabidopsis. Mol. Cell., 84: 4729-4739.
Wang DY, Xiao SX, Shu JY, Luo LX, Yang MQ, Calonje M, He H, Song BX, Zhou Y. (2024) Promoter capture Hi-C identifies promoter-related loops and fountain structures in Arabidopsis. Genome Biol., 25: 324.
Yin X, Romero-Campero FJ, Yang MQ, Baile F, Cao Y, Shu JY, Luo LX, Wang DY, Sun S, Yan P, Gong ZY, Mo XR, Qin GJ, Calonje, M, Zhou Y. (2023) Binding by the Polycomb complex component BMI1 and H2A monoubiquitination shape local and long-range interactions in the Arabidopsis genome. Plant Cell, 35: 2484-2503.
Yang TT, Wang DY, Tian GM, Sun LH, Yang MQ, Yin XC, Xiao J, Sheng Y, Zhu DM, He H, Zhou Y. (2022) Chromatin remodeling complexes regulate genome architecture in Arabidopsis. Plant Cell, 34: 2638-2651.
Wei SB, Li X, Lu ZF, Zhang H, Ye XY, Zhou YJ, Li J, Yan YY, Pei HC, Duan FY, Wang DY, Chen S, Wang P, Zhang C, Shang LG, Zhou Y, Yan P, Zhao M, Huang J, Bock R, Qian Q, Zhou WB. (2022) A transcriptional regulator that boosts grain yields and shortens the growth duration of rice. Science, 377: eabi8455.
Gao ZX, Zhou Y, He YH. (2022) Molecular epigenetic mechanisms for the memory of temperature stresses in plants. J Genet. Genomics., 49: 991-1001.
Yin XC, Romero-Campero FJ, de Los Reyes P, Yan P, Yang J, Tian GM, Yang XZ, Mo XR, Zhao SS, Calonje M, Zhou Y. (2021) H2AK121ub in Arabidopsis associates with a less accessible chromatin state at transcriptional regulation hotspots. Nat. Commun., 12: 315.
Tingting Yang, Lingxiao Luo, Xiangjie Su, Minqi Yang, Suxin Xiao, Zhihan Song, Yue Yu, Ruiqi Sun, Yang Deng, Jinqi Wei, Zhule Liu, Yinan Li
