Knocking off their Sox: lineage-specific repression by Polycomb in epidermal stem cells.

EMBO J 32 14, 1990–2000 doi:; DOI: 10.1038/emboj.2013.110; published online May 14 2013 A recent publication in (Bardot et al, 2013) provides novel insights into lineage specification during the development of the mouse skin. Ezhkova and colleagues demonstrate that Ezh1 and Ezh2, core enzymes of the Polycomb Repressive Complex (PRC), restrict differentiation of Merkel cells, a specialized population of mechanosensory cells by directly repressing the cell fate determinant transcription factor (TF) Sox2 in epidermal progenitors.