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Loss of Polycomb proteins CLF and LHP1 leads to excessive RNA degradation in Arabidopsis.

Polycomb-group (PcG) proteins are major chromatin complexes that regulate gene expression, mainly described as repressors keeping genes in a transcriptional silent state during development. Recent studies have nonetheless suggested that PcG proteins might have additional functions, including on targeting active genes or independently of gene expression regulation. However, the reasons for the implication of PcG and their associated chromatin marks on active genes are still largely unknown. Here, we report that combining mutations for CURLY LEAF (CLF) and LIKE HETEROCHROMATIN PROTEIN1 (LHP1), two Arabidopsis PcG proteins, results in the deregulation of the expression of active genes that are targeted by PcG proteins or enriched in associated chromatin marks. We show that this deregulation is associated with accumulation of small RNAs corresponding to massive degradation of active gene transcripts. We demonstrate that transcriptionally active genes and especially those targeted by PcG are prone to RNA degradation, even though deregulation of RNA degradation following the loss of function of PcG proteins is likely not mediated by a PcG-mediated chromatin environment. Therefore, we highlight that PcG function is essential to maintain an accurate level of RNA degradation to ensure a correct expression level of genes.