Description
To understand how actions of the chromatin-remodeler BRAHMA (BRM) and Polycomb Group (PcG) proteins are coordinated during plant development, we performed a genome-wide profiling of trimethylated histone H3 lysine 27 (H3K27me3) in brm mutant seedlings by chromatin immunoprecipitation followed by next generation sequencing (ChIP-seq). Increased H3K27me3 deposition at several hundred genes was observed in brm mutants and this increase was partially supressed upon removal of the CURLING LEAF (CLF) H3K27me3 methyltransferase. ChIP experiments demonstrated that BRM directly binds to a subset of genes and prevents the inappropriate association of PcG proteins at some of the loci. Together, these results indicate a crucial role of BRM in restricting the inappropriate activity of PcG protein complexes during plant development.