Gene silencing by Polycomb complexes is central to eukaryotic development. Cold-induced epigenetic repression of () in the plant provides an opportunity to study initiation and maintenance of Polycomb silencing. Here, we show that a subset of Polycomb repressive complex 2 factors nucleate silencing in a small region within, locally increasing H3K27me3 levels. This nucleation confers a silenced state that is metastably inherited, with memory held in the local chromatin. Metastable memory is then converted to stable epigenetic silencing through separate Polycomb factors, which spread across the locus after cold to enlarge the domain that contains H3K27me3. Polycomb silencing at thus has mechanistically distinct phases, which involve specialization of distinct Polycomb components to deliver first metastable then long-term epigenetic silencing.

SummaryGenes targeted by Polycomb repressive complex 2 (PRC2) are regulated in cis by chromatin modifications and also in trans by diffusible regulators such as transcription factors. Here, we introduce a mathematical model in which transcription directly antagonizes Polycomb silencing, thereby linking these cis- and trans-regulatory inputs to gene expression. The model is parameterized by recent experimental data showing that PRC2-mediated repressive chromatin modifications accumulate extremely slowly. The model generates self-perpetuating, bistable active and repressed chromatin states that persist through DNA replication, thereby ensuring high-fidelity transmission of the current chromatin state. However, sufficiently strong, persistent activation or repression of transcription promotes switching between active and repressed chromatin states. We observe that when chromatin modification dynamics are slow, transient pulses of transcriptional activation or repression are effectively filtered, such that epigenetic memory is retained. Noise filtering thus depends on slow chromatin dynamics and may represent an important function of PRC2-based regulation.

Chromatin plays a central role in orchestrating gene regulation at the transcriptional level. However, our understanding of how chromatin states are altered in response to environmental and developmental cues, and then maintained epigenetically over many cell divisions, remains poor. The floral repressor gene FLOWERING LOCUS C (FLC) in Arabidopsis thaliana is a useful system to address these questions. FLC is transcriptionally repressed during exposure to cold temperatures, allowing studies of how environmental conditions alter expression states at the chromatin level. FLC repression is also epigenetically maintained during subsequent development in warm conditions, so that exposure to cold may be remembered. This memory depends on molecular complexes that are highly conserved among eukaryotes, making FLC not only interesting as a paradigm for understanding biological decision-making in plants, but also an important system for elucidating chromatin-based gene regulation more generally. In this review, we summarize our understanding of how cold temperature induces a switch in the FLC chromatin state, and how this state is epigenetically remembered. We also discuss how the epigenetic state of FLC is reprogrammed in the seed to ensure a requirement for cold exposure in the next generation.Significance StatementFLOWERING LOCUS C (FLC) regulation provides a paradigm for understanding how chromatin can be modulated to determine gene expression in a developmental context. This review describes our current mechanistic understanding of how FLC expression is genetically specified and epigenetically regulated throughout the plant life cycle, and how this determines plant life-history strategy.