X-Nico

2 unusual facts about Trithorax-group proteins


Homeotic selector gene

The cell memory of a given positional value depends on two inputs, the first being the ability of many Hox proteins to autoactivate their own transcription, and the second derived from two large groups of transcriptional regulators: The Polycomb group and the Trithorax group.

Trithorax-group proteins

The founding member of TrxG Proteins, trithorax (trx), was discovered by P.W. Ingham as part of his doctoral thesis while a graduate student in the laboratory of J.R.S. Whittle at the University of Sussex.


Endometrial stromal sarcoma

This translocation leads to the fusion of two polycomb group genes, JAZF1 and JJAZ1, with production of a fusion transcript with anti-apoptotic properties.

Ming-Ming Zhou

The current focuses of his laboratory include the roles of the Trithorax protein complexes and the Polycomb repressive complexes in gene activation and silencing in human biology of health and disease such as stem cell self-renewal and lineage commitment, cancer and inflammation.

PHD finger

The PHD finger occurs in proteins such as the transcriptional co-activators p300 and CBP, Polycomb-like protein (Pcl), Trithorax-group proteins like ASH1L, ASH2L and MLL, the autoimmune regulator (AIRE), Mi-2 complex (part of histone deacetylase complex), the co-repressor TIF1, the JARID1-family of demethylases and many more.


see also