A long noncoding RNA uses viral mimicry to achieve developmental gene silencing across a chromosome.

Silencing of gene regulatory elements by modifications of DNA-bound proteins promotes the progression of early mouse development.

In a synthetic system, spreading of chromatin-mediated silencing to nearby genes depends on distance and can bypass genetic insulators, while reactivation after release of gene targeting is coordinated by insulators and promoters.

A Drosophila fertility gene is identified that acts as a linker between HP1a and local H3K4 demethylation during HP1a-mediated gene silencing that is required for ovary development and transposon silencing..

Zebrafish early embryos initially package their developmental genes and enhancers in 'active' chromatin that subsequently receives polycomb repressive complex 1 (PRC1)-mediated histone H2A ubiquitylation, which confers silencing/poising – prior to Aebp2-PRC2-guided H3K27me3 addition.

Mutations in budding yeast modeled after cancer-associated isocitrate dehydrogenase mutations lead to stabilization of heterochromatin and enhanced gene silencing through inhibition of specific histone demethylases by the oncometabolite D-2-hydroxyglutarate.

Cell-cycle progression is crucial for heterochromatin formation in budding yeast because S phase promotes the removal of active chromatin marks.

Characterization of Drosophila female germ cell differentiation shows that nurse cells initiate Polycomb silencing by regulating Pcl and Scm levels to alter the biochemical properties of the PRC2 H3K27 methylase.

In Caenorhabditis elegans histone methylation (H3K9me3) controls the synthesis of heritable small RNAs in a gene-specific manner and thus enables 'flagging' of newly-acquired genes.

A viral protein hijacks the key effector of transcriptional gene silencing, Su(var)3-9, to evade host plant surveillance.