RING1B O-GlcNAcylation regulates gene targeting of polycomb repressive complex 1 in human embryonic stem cells.

O-linked-N-acetylglucosamine (O-GlcNAc) post-translationally modifies and regulates thousands of proteins involved in various cellular mechanisms. Recently, O-GlcNAc has been linked to human embryonic stem cells (hESC) differentiation, however the identity and function of O-GlcNAc proteins regulating hESC remain unknown. Here, we firstly identified O-GlcNAc modified human stem cell regulators such as hnRNP K, HP1γ, and especially RING1B/RNF2. Thereafter, we focused our work on RING1B which is the catalytic subunit of the polycomb repressive complex 1 (PRC1) a major epigenetic repressor essential for pluripotency maintenance and differentiation. By point-mutation, we show that T(250)/S(251) and S(278) RING1B residues are bearing O-GlcNAc, and that T(250)/S(251) O-GlcNAcylation decreases during differentiation. O-GlcNAc seems to regulate RING1B-DNA binding as suggested by our ChIP-sequencing results. Non-O-GlcNAcylated RING1B is found to be enriched near cell cycle genes whereas O-GlcNAcylated RING1B seems preferentially enriched near neuronal genes. Our data suggest that during hESC differentiation, the decrease of RING1B O-GlcNAcylation might enable PRC1 to switch its target to induce neuron differentiation. Overall, we demonstrate that O-GlcNAc modifies and regulates an essential epigenetic tool, RING1B, which may contribute to hESC pluripotency maintenance and differentiation.