South Asian Journal of Life Sciences

Review Article
South Asian J. Life Sci.1 (1): 5 - 11
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Dong–Hong Chen1,2*, Yong Huang1,2 , Chunlin Liu1, Ying Ruan1,2*
1Hunan Provincial Key Laboratory of Crop Germplasm Innovation and Utilization, Hunan Agricultural University, Changsha 410128, China; 2Colleges of Bioscience and Biotechnology, Hunan Agricultural University, Changsha 410128, China.
*Corresponding author: chendh212@163.com; yingruan@hotmail.com

ABSTRACT
Polycomb group (PcG) proteins are relatively conserved in animal and plant, associating with the epigenetic modification and transcriptional silencing of target genes. Imaginably, PcG proteins in animal and plant should display different properties in some aspects as well, such as protein sequence, function, expression, and composition, based on both almost opposite behaviors. Here, we review a plant–specific PcG protein Embryonic Flower 1 (EMF1) which is necessary for maintenance of vegetative development. Sequence blast and phylogenic analysis indicated that EMF1 homologs are only found in angiosperm, divided into dicot and monocot groups. Domain searching showed that no obviously established domains are discovered in EMF1–like proteins. Then we introduce its expression pattern, subcellular localization and detailed functions both in diverse developmental stages and as a PcG role based on published results.

Key Words: Angiosperm; EMF1; PcG; phylogeny; Sequence blast.