Ray, MridulaWiskow, OleKing, MatthewIsmail, NidhaErgun, AylaWang, YanqunPlys, AaronDavis, ChristopherKathrein, KatieSadreyev, RuslanBorowsky, MarkEggan, KevinZon, LeonardGalloway, JennaKingston, Robert2019-10-032016Ray, Mridula K., Ole Wiskow, Matthew J. King, Nidha Ismail, Ayla Ergun, Yanqun Wang, Aaron J. Plys, et al. 2016. “CAT7 and cat7l Long Non-Coding RNAs Tune Polycomb Repressive Complex 1 Function during Human and Zebrafish Development.” Journal of Biological Chemistry 291 (37): 19558–72. https://doi.org/10.1074/jbc.m116.730853.0021-92581083-351Xhttp://nrs.harvard.edu/urn-3:HUL.InstRepos:41461214The essential functions of polycomb repressive complex 1 (PRC1) in development and gene silencing are thought to involve long non-coding RNAs (lncRNAs), but few specific lncRNAs that guide PRC1 activity are known. We screened for lncRNAs, which co-precipitate with PRC1 from chromatin and found candidates that impact polycomb group protein (PcG)-regulated gene expression in vivo. A novel lncRNA from this screen, CAT7, regulates expression and polycomb group binding at the MNX1 locus during early neuronal differentiation. CAT7 contains a unique tandem repeat domain that shares high sequence similarity to a non-syntenic zebrafish analog, cat7l. Defects caused by interference of cat7l RNA during zebrafish embryogenesis were rescued by human CAT7 RNA, enhanced by interference of a PRC1 component, and suppressed by interference of a known PRC1 target gene, demonstrating cat7l genetically interacts with a PRC1. We propose a model whereby PRC1 acts in concert with specific lncRNAs and that CAT7/cat7l represents convergent lncRNAs that independently evolved to tune PRC1 repression at individual loci.en-USJournal Article2019-10-0310.1074/jbc.M116.730853