Project description:Protein-DNA interactions are dynamic and these dynamics are an important aspect of chromatin-associated processes such as transcription or replication. Due to a lack of methods to study on- and off-rates across entire genomes, protein-DNA interaction dynamics have not been studied extensively. Here we determine in vivo off-rates for the Saccharomyces cerevisiae chromatin organizing factor Abf1, at 191 sites simultaneously across the yeast genome. Average Abf1 residence times span a wide-range, varying between 4.5 and 37 minutes. Sites with different off-rates are associated with different functional characteristics. This includes their transcriptional dependency on Abf1, nucleosome positioning and the size of the nucleosome-free region, as well as the ability to roadblock RNA polymerase II for termination. The results show how off-rates contribute to transcription factor function and that DIVORSEQ (Determining In Vivo Off-Rates by SEQuencing) is a meaningful way of investigating protein-DNA binding dynamics genome-wide.
Project description:The nucleosome is a fundamental unit of chromatin in eukaryotes, and generally prevents the binding of transcription factors to genomic DNA. Pioneer transcription factors overcome the nucleosome barrier, and bind their target DNA sequences in chromatin. OCT4 is a representative pioneer transcription factor that plays a role in stem cell pluripotency. In the present study, we biochemically analyzed the nucleosome binding by OCT4. Crosslinking mass spectrometry showed that OCT4 binds the nucleosome.
Project description:Protein-DNA interactions are dynamic and these dynamics are an important aspect of chromatin-associated processes such as transcription or replication. Due to a lack of methods to study on- and off-rates across entire genomes, protein-DNA interaction dynamics have not been studied extensively. Here we determine in vivo off-rates for the Saccharomyces cerevisiae chromatin organizing factor Abf1, at 191 sites simultaneously across the yeast genome. Average Abf1 residence times span a wide-range, varying between 4.5 and 37 minutes. Sites with different off-rates are associated with different functional characteristics. This includes their transcriptional dependency on Abf1, nucleosome positioning and the size of the nucleosome-free region, as well as the ability to roadblock RNA polymerase II for termination. The results show how off-rates contribute to transcription factor function and that DIVORSEQ (Determining In Vivo Off-Rates by SEQuencing) is a meaningful way of investigating protein-DNA binding dynamics genome-wide.
Project description:p300 is a histone acetyltransferase that associates with crucial biological processes. p300 acetylates all four histones in the nucleosome, a basic unit of chromatin, and alters chromatin structure and dynamics. In this study, we performed structural and biochemical analysis to understand the nucleosome binding by p300. Crosslinking mass spectrometry suggests that the p300 catalytic core binds to nucleosomes in multiple binding forms to acetylate different histone tails.
Project description:Spn1/Iws1 is a conserved protein involved in transcription and chromatin dynamics, yet its general in vivo requirement for these functions is unknown. Using a Spn1 depletion system in S. cerevisiae, we demonstrate that Spn1 broadly influences several aspects of gene expression on a genome-wide scale. We show that Spn1 is globally required for normal mRNA levels and for normal splicing of ribosomal protein transcripts. Furthermore, Spn1 maintains the localization of H3K36 and H3K4 methylation across the genome and is required for normal histone levels at highly expressed genes. Finally, we show that the association of Spn1 with the transcription machinery is strongly dependent on its binding partner, Spt6, while the association of Spt6 and Set2 with transcribed regions is partially dependent on Spn1. Taken together, our results show that Spn1 affects multiple aspects of gene expression in vivo and provide additional evidence that it functions as a histone chaperone.
Project description:Histone H3K4 methylation is connected to gene transcription from yeast to humans, but its mechanistic role in transcription and chromatin dynamics remains poorly understood. Here, we investigated the functions for Set1 and Jhd2, the sole H3K4 methyltransferase and H3K4 demethylase, respectively, in S. cerevisiae. Our data show that Set1 and Jhd2 predominantly co-regulate transcription. We find combined activities of Set1 and Jhd2 via H3K4 methylation contribute to positive or negative transcriptional regulation at shared target genes. Providing mechanistic insights, our data reveal that Set1 and Jhd2 together control nucleosomal occupancy during transcriptional co-regulation. Moreover, we find a remarkable genome-wide co-regulation of nucleosome and chromatin structure by Set1 and Jhd2 at different groups of transcriptionally active or inactive genes and at different regions within yeast genes. Overall, our study prompts a model wherein combined actions of Set1 and Jhd2 via H3K4 methylationâdemethylation control chromatin dynamics during various facets of transcriptional regulation. Genome-wide nucleosome maps were generated from three different yeast strains representing no tag control, 8V5-Set1 and Jhd2-12V5. Cells were cross-linked with formaldehyde, spheroplasted, nuclei were isolated and chromatin was prepared using micrococcal nuclease digestion, chromatin immunoprecipitation was performed using an epitope-tag specific antibody, libraries were prepared from ChIP and input DNA, sequenced, and analyzed separately.
Project description:Histone H3K4 methylation is connected to gene transcription from yeast to humans, but its mechanistic role in transcription and chromatin dynamics remains poorly understood. Here, we investigated the functions for Set1 and Jhd2, the sole H3K4 methyltransferase and H3K4 demethylase, respectively, in S. cerevisiae. Our data show that Set1 and Jhd2 predominantly co-regulate transcription. We find combined activities of Set1 and Jhd2 via H3K4 methylation contribute to positive or negative transcriptional regulation at shared target genes. Providing mechanistic insights, our data reveal that Set1 and Jhd2 together control nucleosomal occupancy during transcriptional co-regulation. Moreover, we find a remarkable genome-wide co-regulation of nucleosome and chromatin structure by Set1 and Jhd2 at different groups of transcriptionally active or inactive genes and at different regions within yeast genes. Overall, our study prompts a model wherein combined actions of Set1 and Jhd2 via H3K4 methylationâ??demethylation control chromatin dynamics during various facets of transcriptional regulation. Genome-wide nucleosome maps were generated from three different yeast strains representing no tag control, 8V5-Set1 and Jhd2-12V5. Cells were cross-linked with formaldehyde, spheroplasted, nuclei were isolated and chromatin was prepared using micrococcal nuclease digestion , chromatin immunoprecipitation was performed using an epitope-tag specific antibody, libraries were prepared from ChIP and input DNA, sequenced, and analyzed separately.
Project description:Understanding chromatin dynamics is a key to other related processes, including DNA replication, transcription and recombination. As a first step, recently, an increasing amount of effort has been devoted to precisely define nucleosome positioning in different organisms. The most popular method to do so is digestion by Micrococcal nuclease (MNase), nowadays followed by ultrasequencing of the generated fragments. Although the sequence bias of MNase has been known for a long time, a data-based way of correcting this bias for sequencing experiments is still missing. Here we provide such a method, based on the digestion of naked DNA and the use of the bioinformatic tool DANPOS. Using Saccharomyces cerevisiae as a model, we demonstrate that the overall quality of the data is better after the correction proposed here. The characteristics of the method make it perfectly applicable to any other organism. Moreover, we find that the correction affects more to TATA containing genes than to TATA-like genes. Importantly, the correction uncovers a new role for TFIIS in chromatin dynamics. The absence of TFIIS caused a general increase in nucleosome fuzziness, and a higher peak of the -1 nucleosome at some promoters
Project description:GFI is a DNA binding transcriptional repressor that regulates myeloid differentiation. Here, we show that GFI1 interacts with the chromodomain helicase CHD4 and other components of the nucleosome remodeling and deacetylase (NuRD) complex. Our data demonstrated that GFI1 and GFI1/CHD4 complexes occupy sites of open chromatin enriched for histone marks associated with active transcription or different sets of genes that are either enriched for IRF1 or SPI-1 consensus binding sites. In addition, our study provided evidence that GFI1 affects the chromatin remodeling activity of the NuRD complex. Overall, our results indicate that GFI1/CHD4 complexes control chromatin openness and histone modifications differentially to regulate target genes, which govern the immune response, nucleosome organization, or metabolic processes.