Unravelling the transcriptional responses of TGF-β: Smad3 and EZH2 constitute a regulatory switch that controls neuroretinal epithelial cell fate specification

Cell differentiation is directed by extracellular cues and intrinsic epigenetic modifications, which control chromatin organization and transcriptional activation. Central to this process is PRC2, which modulates the di- and trimethylation of lysine 27 on histone 3; however, little is known concerning the direction of PRC2 to specific loci. Here, we have investigated the physical interactome of EZH2, the enzymatic core of PRC2, during retinoic acid-mediated differentiation of neuroepithelial, pluripotent NT2 cells and the dedifferentiation of neuroretinal epithelial ARPE19 cells in response to TGF-β. We identified Smad3 as an EZH2 interactor in both contexts. Co-occupation of the CDH1 promoter by Smad3 and EZH2 and the cooperative, functional nature of the interaction were established. We propose that the interaction between Smad3 and EZH2 targets the core polycomb assembly to defined regions of the genome to regulate transcriptional repression and forms a molecular switch that controls promoter access through epigenetic mechanisms leading to gene silencing.-Andrews, D., Oliviero, G., De Chiara, L., Watson, A., Rochford, E., Wynne, K., Kennedy, C., Clerkin, S., Doyle, B., Godson, C., Connell, P., O'Brien, C., Cagney, G., Crean, J. Unravelling the transcriptional responses of TGF-β: Smad3 and EZH2 constitute a regulatory switch that controls neuroretinal epithelial cell fate specification.