Project description:The structural complexity of nucleosomes underlies their functional versatility. Here we report a new type of complexity – nucleosome fragility, manifested as high sensitivity to micrococcal nuclease, in contrast to the common presumption that nucleosomes are similar in resistance to MNase digestion. Using differential MNase digestion of chromatin and high-throughput sequencing, we have identified a special group of nucleosomes termed fragile nucleosomes throughout the yeast genome, nearly one thousand of which are at previously determined “nucleosome free” loci. Nucleosome fragility is broadly implicated in multiple chromatin processes, including transcription, translocation and replication, in correspondence to specific physiological states of cells. In the environmental-stress-response genes, the presence of fragile nucleosomes prior to the occurrence of environmental changes suggests that nucleosome fragility poises genes for swift up-regulation in response to the environmental changes. We propose that nucleosome fragility underscores distinct functional statuses of the chromatin and provides a new dimension for portraying the landscape of genome organization. Comparing nucleosome occupancy under different MNase digestion levels and growth conditions.
Project description:The structural complexity of nucleosomes underlies their functional versatility. Here we report a new type of complexity – nucleosome fragility, manifested as high sensitivity to micrococcal nuclease, in contrast to the common presumption that nucleosomes are similar in resistance to MNase digestion. Using differential MNase digestion of chromatin and high-throughput sequencing, we have identified a special group of nucleosomes termed fragile nucleosomes throughout the yeast genome, nearly one thousand of which are at previously determined “nucleosome free” loci. Nucleosome fragility is broadly implicated in multiple chromatin processes, including transcription, translocation and replication, in correspondence to specific physiological states of cells. In the environmental-stress-response genes, the presence of fragile nucleosomes prior to the occurrence of environmental changes suggests that nucleosome fragility poises genes for swift up-regulation in response to the environmental changes. We propose that nucleosome fragility underscores distinct functional statuses of the chromatin and provides a new dimension for portraying the landscape of genome organization.
Project description:Micrococcal nuclease (MNase) is commonly used to map nucleosomes genome-wide, but nucleosome maps are affected by the degree of digestion. It has been proposed that many yeast promoters are not nucleosome-free but occupied by easily digested, unstable, “fragile” nucleosomes. We analyzed the histone content of all MNase-sensitive complexes by MNase-ChIP-seq and Sonication-ChIP-seq. We find that yeast promoters are predominantly bound by non-histone protein complexes, with little evidence for fragile nucleosomes. We do detect MNase-sensitive nucleosomes elsewhere in the genome, including transcription termination sites. However, they have high A/T-content, suggesting that MNase sensitivity does not indicate instability, but the preference of MNase for A/T-rich DNA, such that A/T-rich nucleosomes are digested faster than G/C-rich nucleosomes. We confirm our observations by analyzing ChIP-exo, chemical mapping and ATAC-seq data from other laboratories. Thus, histone ChIP-seq experiments are essential to distinguish nucleosomes from other DNA-binding proteins that protect against MNase.
Project description:DNA are packaged into nucleosomes and chromatin. We performed incomplete MNase digestion of chromatin to identify nucleosome-free regions that may indicate active promoters and regulatory regions. Additionally, HpaII digestion was performed which cleaves CCGG sites when the internal C remains unmodified. The hypomethylation state and nuclease sensitivity of the chromatin are indicators of transcription regulatory regions.
Project description:In higher eukaryotes, enhancers and promoters share many properties, including binding of transcription factors, existing in open chromatin, and bidirectional transcription. Yet the structural features that distinguish enhancers and promoters are unclear. Genome-wide micrococcal nuclease (MNase) studies previously interpreted MNase hypersensitivity to indicate that active enhancers and promoters are nucleosome-free, yet other studies found histone variants and post-translational modifications at active enhancers. We find that prior MNase genomic studies have an overdigestion bias and that low-level MNase digestion, coupled with mapping core histones, reveals two classes of MNase-hypersensitive sites: at active promoters, which are nucleosome depleted, and at tissue-specific enhancers, which retain core histones and co-bound transcription factors substantially more than promoters. Hypersensitivity of active enhancer nucleosomes may reflect their preferential exposure in chromatin and can be maintained by pioneer transcription factors such as FoxA. These findings unveil fundamental differences in the chromatin structure of active enhancers and promoters.
Project description:Chromatin transactions are typically studied in vivo, or in vitro using artificial chromatin lacking the epigenetic complexity of the natural material. Attempting to bridge the gap between these approaches, we established a system for isolating the yeast genome as a library of mono-nucleosomes harbouring the natural epigenetic signature, suitable for biochemical manipulation. Combined with deep sequencing, this library was used to investigate the stability of individual nucleosomes, and – as proof of principle - the nucleosome preference of the chromatin remodeling complex, RSC. In order to generate a library of native yeast nucleosomes, we developed a three-step purification protocol: first, purified yeast nuclei were incubated with micrococcal nuclease (MNase), which preferentially digests naked DNA to generate short chromatin fragments. The resulting fragments were extracted from the nuclei, then bound to and eluted from DEAE sepharose. This was followed by ultracentrifugation through a sucrose gradient to separate the fragments by length to further remove contaminating proteins and free DNA. We chose a simple disassembly assay, which involves incubating the nucleosome library with ATP and the histone chaperone Nap1, with or without RSC. In this assay, RSC binds to nucleosomes and transfers the histones to Nap1, thereby releasing ‘naked’ DNA. Under certain conditions, reaction intermediates can be observed (tetramers or hexasomes), but for simplicity we chose to compare the input nucleosomes with the final naked DNA product. To separate the RSC-dependent released DNA from the non-remodeled nucleosomes, the reactions were subjected to native agarose gel electrophoresis, and DNA of the four bands isolated by gel-extraction. The upper bands, harboring nucleosomes, were named NUC (no RSC) and NUCR (with RSC), whereas the lower, ‘naked’ DNA bands were named DNA (no RSC) and DNAR (with RSC).
Project description:Chromatin mapping using micrococcal nuclease (MNase) has been the standard tool for mapping nucleosomes for >40 years. When coupled with DNA sequencing, MNase-seq can provide base-pair-resolution nucleosome maps. However, determining nucleosome occupancy using MNase-seq has been hampered by its aggressive endo-/exo-nuclease activities, whereby cleavages within linker regions produce oligo- and mono-nucleosomes whereas cleavages within nucleosomes destroy them. Here we introduce a theoretical framework for predicting nucleosome occupancies and an experimental protocol with appropriate spike-in normalization that confirms our theory and provides accurate occupancy levels over an MNase digestion time-course. As expected, DNaseI hypersensitive sites and transcription units are digested by MNase at elevated rates, and the apparent deficiency of nucleosomes at 3’ ends of Drosophila genes is an artifact of MNase preference for AT-rich DNA. Surprisingly, we observed no overall differences between Drosophila euchromatin and heterochromatin, which implies that heterochromatin compaction does not render nucleosomal DNA less accessible than euchromatin.
Project description:Nucleosome structure and positioning play pivotal roles in gene regulation, DNA repair and other essential processes in eukaryotic cells. Nucleosomal DNA is thought to be uniformly inaccessible to DNA binding and processing factors, such as MNase. Here, we show, however, that nucleosome accessibility and sensitivity to MNase varies. Digestion of Drosophila chromatin with two distinct concentrations of MNase revealed two types of nucleosomes: sensitive and resistant. MNase-resistant nucleosome arrays are less accessible to low concentrations of MNase, whereas MNase-sensitive arrays are degraded by high concentrations. MNase-resistant nucleosomes assemble on sequences depleted of A/T and enriched in G/C containing dinucleotides. In contrast, MNase-sensitive nucleosomes form on A/T rich sequences represented by transcription start and termination sites, enhancers and DNase hypersensitive sites. Lowering of cell growth temperature to ~10°C stabilizes MNase-sensitive nucleosomes suggesting that variations in sensitivity to MNase are related to either thermal fluctuations in chromatin fiber or the activity of enzymatic machinery. In the vicinity of active genes and DNase hypersensitive sites nucleosomes are organized into synchronous, periodic arrays. These patterns are likely to be caused by “phasing” nucleosomes off a potential barrier formed by DNA-bound factors and we provide an extensive biophysical framework to explain this effect. Mnase-seq, Mnase-ChIP-seq of Drosophila melanogaster embryo and S2 cells chromatin