Roles of Polycomb Complexes in the Reconstruction of 3D Genome Architecture during Preimplantation Embryonic Development

The appropriate deployment of developmental programs depends on complex genetic information encoded by genomic DNA sequences and their positioning and contacts in the three-dimensional (3D) space within the nucleus. Current studies using novel techniques including, but not limited to, Hi-C, ChIA-PET, and Hi-ChIP reveal that regulatory elements (Res), such as enhancers and promoters, may participate in the precise regulation of expression of tissue-specific genes important for both embryogenesis and organogenesis by recruiting Polycomb Group (PcG) complexes. PcG complexes usually poise the transcription of developmental genes by forming Polycomb bodies to compact poised enhancers and promoters marked by H3K27me3 in the 3D space. Additionally, recent studies have also uncovered their roles in transcriptional activation. To better understand the full complexities in the mechanisms of how PcG complexes regulate transcription and long-range 3D contacts of enhancers and promoters during developmental programs, we outline novel insights regarding PcG-associated dramatic changes in the 3D chromatin conformation in developmental programs of early embryos and naïve-ground-state transitions of pluripotent embryonic stem cells (ESCs), and highlight the distinct roles of unique and common subunits of canonical and non-canonical PcG complexes in shaping genome architectures and transcriptional programs.