Category:GO:0140718 ! facultative heterochromatin formation

name: facultative heterochromatin formation
namespace: biological_process
def: "The compaction of chromatin into a conformation that is refractory to transcription but that can be converted to euchromatin and allow transcription in specific contexts. These can be temporal (e.g., developmental states or specific cell-cycle stages), spatial (e.g., nuclear localization changes from the center to the periphery or vice versa due to exogenous factors/signals), or parental/heritable (e.g., monoallelic gene expression). In metazoa, this involves the methylation of histone H3K27." [PMID:17936700]
comment: Note that facultative heterochromatin can be reprogrammed, as opposed to constitutive heterochromatin which usually cannot be reprogrammed to a transcriptionally-competent state. Note also that facultative heterochromatin formation does not usually involve DNA methylation, while constitutive heterochromatin formation does.
synonym: "facultative heterochromatin assembly" EXACT []
synonym: "fHC assembly" EXACT []
is_a: GO:0031507 ! heterochromatin formation

AmiGO <GOterm>GO:0140718</GOterm>
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