Project description:Nucleosomes arrange into extended arrays, much like beads on a string. They are often phased at genomic landmarks and are thought to be evenly spaced. Here we tested to what extent this stereotypic organization describes the nucleosome landscape in Saccharomyces cerevisiae using a long-read nucleosome-sequencing technique called Fiber-Seq. Fiber-Seq maps the nucleosome pattern on individual chromatin fibers. As such, it is ideally suited to measure the density of nucleosomes per read and quantitate the nucleosome occupancy throughout the genome. We document substantial deviations from the stereotypical nucleosome organization, with unexpectedly long linker DNAs between individual nucleosomes, genomic regions lacking entire nucleosomes, heterogeneous phasing of arrays, truly irregular spacing of arrays and read-to-read variation in nucleosome densities. We exploited the technology to test mechanistic models for the biogenesis of nucleosome arrays. We can rule out transcription elongation playing a decisive role in array formation and detect signatures for a clamping activity of remodelers of the ISWI and CHD1 families after acute nucleosome depletion in vivo. Given that nucleosomes are cis-regulatory elements, the cell-to-cell heterogeneity that Fiber-Seq uncovers provides much needed information to understand chromatin structure and function.
Project description:Eukaryotic cells are thought to arrange nucleosomes into extended arrays with evenly spaced nucleosomes phased at genomic landmarks. Here we tested to what extent this stereotypic organization describes the nucleosome organization in Saccharomyces cerevisiae using Fiber-Seq, a long-read sequencing technique that maps entire nucleosome arrays on individual chromatin fibers in a high throughput manner. With each fiber coming from a different cell, Fiber-Seq uncovers cell-to-cell heterogeneity. The long reads reveal the nucleosome architecture even over repetitive DNA such as the ribosomal DNA repeats. The absolute nucleosome occupancy, a parameter that is difficult to obtain with conventional sequencing approaches, is a direct readout of Fiber-Seq. We document substantial deviations from the stereotypical nucleosome organization with unexpectedly long linker DNAs between nucleosomes, gene bodies missing entire nucleosomes, cell-to-cell heterogeneity in nucleosome occupancy, heterogeneous phasing of arrays and irregular nucleosome spacing. Nucleosome array structures are indistinguishable throughout the gene body and with respect to the direction of transcription arguing against transcription promoting array formation. Acute nucleosome depletion destroyed most of the array organization indicating that nucleosome remodelers cannot efficiently pack nucleosomes under those conditions. Given that nucleosomes are cis-regulatory elements, the cell-to-cell heterogeneity uncovered by Fiber-Seq provides much needed information to understand chromatin structure and function.
Project description:Nucleosome organization is critical for gene regulation. In living cells, this organization is determined by multiple factors, including the action of chromatin remodelers, competition with site-specific DNA-binding proteins, and the DNA sequence preferences of the nucleosomes themselves. However, it has been difficult to estimate the relative importance of each of these mechanisms in vivo, because in vivo nucleosome maps reflect the combined action of all influencing factors. Here, we determine the importance of DNA sequence preferences experimentally by measuring the genome-wide occupancy of nucleosomes assembled on purified yeast genomic DNA. The resulting map, in which nucleosome occupancy is governed only by the intrinsic sequence preferences of nucleosomes, is remarkably similar to in vivo nucleosome maps generated in three different growth conditions. In vitro, nucleosome depletion is evident at many transcription factor binding sites and around gene start and end sites, suggesting that nucleosome depletion at these sites in vivo is partially encoded in the genome. We confirm these results with a micrococcal nuclease-independent experiment that measures the relative affinity of nucleosomes for ~40,000 double-stranded 150bp oligonucleotides. Using our in vitro data, we devise a computational model of nucleosome sequence preferences that is significantly correlated with in vivo nucleosome occupancy in C. elegans. Our results indicate that the intrinsic DNA sequence preferences of nucleosomes play a central role in determining the organization of nucleosomes in vivo.
Project description:The positioning of nucleosomes within the coding regions of eukaryotic genes is aligned with respect to transcriptional start sites. This organization is likely to influence many genetic processes, requiring access to the underlying DNA. Here we show that the combined action of Isw1 and Chd1 nucleosome spacing enzymes is required to maintain this organization. In the absence of these enzymes regular positioning of the majority of nucleosomes is lost. Exceptions include the region upstream of the promoter, the +1 nucleosome and a subset of locations distributed throughout coding regions where other factors are likely to be involved. These observations indicated that ATP-dependent remodeling enzymes are responsible for directing the positioning of the majority of nucleosomes within the Saccharomyces cerevisiae genome. Examination of nucleosome positioning in mutants of snf2-related enzymes Other data used in this study are provided in GEO Series GSE31301 and GSE31833.
Project description:The positioning of nucleosomes within the coding regions of eukaryotic genes is aligned with respect to transcriptional start sites. This organization is likely to influence many genetic processes, requiring access to the underlying DNA. Here we show that the combined action of Isw1 and Chd1 nucleosome spacing enzymes is required to maintain this organization. In the absence of these enzymes regular positioning of the majority of nucleosomes is lost. Exceptions include the region upstream of the promoter, the +1 nucleosome and a subset of locations distributed throughout coding regions where other factors are likely to be involved. These observations indicated that ATP-dependent remodeling enzymes are responsible for directing the positioning of the majority of nucleosomes within the Saccharomyces cerevisiae genome. Agilent two-color experiment,Organism: Saccharomyces cerevisiae ,Slides: Agilent Gene Expression S. cerevisiae 8x15k array AMADID: 016333, Labeling kit: Agilent’s Quick-Amp labeling Kit (p/n5190-0444)Method: T7 promoter based-linear amplification to generate labeled complementary RNA.
Project description:The position of nucleosomes influences DNA accessibility to DNA-binding proteins. Genome-wide nucleosome profiles often report the observation of a canonical nucleosome organization at gene promoters where arrays of well-positioned nucleosomes emanate from nucleosome-depleted regions. It is unclear how this canonical promoter nucleosome organization forms and how it is related to transcription activation and the establishment of histone marks during development. Here we report the genome-wide organization of nucleosomes during zebrafish embryogenesis and show that well-positioned nucleosome arrays appear in thousands of promoters during the activation of the zygotic genome. The formation of canonical promoter nucleosome organization cannot be explained by DNA sequence preference, and is independent of transcription and the presence of RNA polymerase II, but strongly correlates with the presence of Histone H3 Lysine 4 trimethylation (H3K4me3). Our study further suggests that promoter nucleosome structure primes genes to future transcription activation. To determine whether the occlusions are consistent in mammalian pluripotent cells, we performed the same analyses in mouse embryonic stem cells and found similar relationships. MNase-seq to generate nucleosome organization in mouse embryonic stem cell (J1)
Project description:The position of nucleosomes influences DNA accessibility to DNA-binding proteins. Genome-wide nucleosome profiles often report the observation of a canonical nucleosome organization at gene promoters where arrays of well-positioned nucleosomes emanate from nucleosome-depleted regions. It is unclear how this canonical promoter nucleosome organization forms and how it is related to transcription activation and the establishment of histone marks during development. Here we report the genome-wide organization of nucleosomes during zebrafish embryogenesis and show that well-positioned nucleosome arrays appear in thousands of promoters during the activation of the zygotic genome. The formation of canonical promoter nucleosome organization cannot be explained by DNA sequence preference, and is independent of transcription and the presence of RNA polymerase II, but strongly correlates with the presence of Histone H3 Lysine 4 trimethylation (H3K4me3). Our study further suggests that promoter nucleosome structure primes genes to future transcription activation. Together, this study reveals that genome activation but not transcription underlies the organization of nucleosome arrays during early embryogenesis. MNase-seq to generate nucleosome organization in two stages of zebrafish development; two biological replicates for each stage. 7 ChIP-seq experiments in three stages.
Project description:The positioning of nucleosomes within the coding regions of eukaryotic genes is aligned with respect to transcriptional start sites. This organization is likely to influence many genetic processes, requiring access to the underlying DNA. Here we show that the combined action of Isw1 and Chd1 nucleosome spacing enzymes is required to maintain this organization. In the absence of these enzymes regular positioning of the majority of nucleosomes is lost. Exceptions include the region upstream of the promoter, the +1 nucleosome and a subset of locations distributed throughout coding regions where other factors are likely to be involved. These observations indicated that ATP-dependent remodeling enzymes are responsible for directing the positioning of the majority of nucleosomes within the Saccharomyces cerevisiae genome.
Project description:The positioning of nucleosomes within the coding regions of eukaryotic genes is aligned with respect to transcriptional start sites. This organization is likely to influence many genetic processes, requiring access to the underlying DNA. Here we show that the combined action of Isw1 and Chd1 nucleosome spacing enzymes is required to maintain this organization. In the absence of these enzymes regular positioning of the majority of nucleosomes is lost. Exceptions include the region upstream of the promoter, the +1 nucleosome and a subset of locations distributed throughout coding regions where other factors are likely to be involved. These observations indicated that ATP-dependent remodeling enzymes are responsible for directing the positioning of the majority of nucleosomes within the Saccharomyces cerevisiae genome.