Barriers and silencers: a theoretical toolkit for control and containment of nucleosome-based epigenetic states

Positive feedback in nucleosome modification has been proposed to allow large chromatin regions to exist stably and heritably in distinct expression states. However, modeling has shown that such epigenetic bistability requires that modifying enzymes recruited by nucleosomes are active on distant nucleosomes, potentially allowing uncontrollable spreading of modification. By modeling the silencing of mating-type loci in Saccharomyces cerevisiae, we show that a modification reaction that combines a long-range component and a locally acting component can provide bistability and can be blocked by simple barriers that interrupt the nucleosome chain. We find that robust containment of the silenced region could be achieved by the presence of a number of weak simple barriers in the surrounding chromatin and a limited capacity of the positive feedback reaction. In addition, we show that the state of the silenced region can be regulated by silencer elements acting only on neighboring nucleosomes. Thus, a relatively simple set of nucleosome-modifying enzymes and recognition domains is all that is needed to make chromatin-based epigenetics useful and safe.     

Theoretical analysis of epigenetic cell memory by nucleosome modification

Chromosomal regions can adopt stable and heritable alternative states resulting in bistable gene expression without changes to the DNA sequence. Such epigenetic control is often associated with alternative covalent modifications of histones. The stability and heritability of the states are thought to involve positive feedback where modified nucleosomes recruit enzymes that similarly modify nearby nucleosomes. We developed a simplified stochastic model for dynamic nucleosome modification based on the silent mating-type region of the yeast Schizosaccharomyces pombe. We show that the mechanism can give strong bistability that is resistant both to high noise due to random gain or loss of nucleosome modifications and to random partitioning upon DNA replication. However, robust bistability required: (1) cooperativity, the activity of more than one modified nucleosome, in the modification reactions and (2) that nucleosomes occasionally stimulate modification beyond their neighbor nucleosomes, arguing against a simple continuous spreading of nucleosome modification.     

Chromatin Sensing by the Auxiliary Domains of KDM5C Regulates Its Demethylase Activity and Is Disrupted by X-linked Intellectual Disability Mutations

The H3K4me3 chromatin modification, a hallmark of promoters of actively transcribed genes, is dynamically removed by the KDM5 family of histone demethylases. The KDM5 demethylases have a number of accessory domains, two of which, ARID and PHD1, lie between the segments of the catalytic domain. KDM5C, which has a unique role in neural development, harbors a number of mutations adjacent to its accessory domains that cause X-linked intellectual disability (XLID). The roles of these accessory domains remain unknown, limiting an understanding of how XLID mutations affect KDM5C activity. Through in vitro binding and kinetic studies using nucleosomes, we find that while the ARID domain is required for efficient nucleosome demethylation, the PHD1 domain alone has an inhibitory role in KDM5C catalysis. In addition, the unstructured linker region between the ARID and PHD1 domains interacts with PHD1 and is necessary for nucleosome binding. Our data suggests a model in which the PHD1 domain inhibits DNA recognition by KDM5C. This inhibitory effect is relieved by the H3 tail, enabling recognition of flanking DNA on the nucleosome. Importantly, we find that XLID mutations adjacent to the ARID and PHD1 domains break this regulation by enhancing DNA binding, resulting in the loss of specificity of substrate chromatin recognition and rendering demethylase activity lower in the presence of flanking DNA. Our findings suggest a model by which specific XLID mutations could alter chromatin recognition and enable euchromatin-specific dysregulation of demethylation by KDM5C.     

Domain architecture of the catalytic subunit in the ISW2-nucleosome complex

ATP-dependent chromatin remodeling has an important role in the regulation of cellular differentiation and development. For the first time, a topological view of one of these complexes has been revealed, by mapping the interactions of the catalytic subunit Isw2 with nucleosomal and extranucleosomal DNA in the complex with all four subunits of ISW2 bound to nucleosomes. Different domains of Isw2 were shown to interact with the nucleosome near the dyad axis, another near the entry site of the nucleosome, and another with extranucleosomal DNA. The conserved DEXD or ATPase domain was found to contact the superhelical location 2 (SHL2) of the nucleosome, providing a direct physical connection of ATP hydrolysis with this region of nucleosomes. The C terminus of Isw2, comprising the SLIDE (SANT-like domain) and HAND domains, was found to be associated with extranucleosomal DNA and the entry site of nucleosomes. It is thus proposed that the C-terminal domains of Isw2 are involved in anchoring the complex to nucleosomes through their interactions with linker DNA and that they facilitate the movement of DNA along the surface of nucleosomes.     

Sir3-nucleosome interactions in spreading of silent chromatin in Saccharomyces cerevisiae

Silent chromatin in Saccharomyces cerevisiae is established in a stepwise process involving the SIR complex, comprised of the histone deacetylase Sir2 and the structural components Sir3 and Sir4. The Sir3 protein, which is the primary histone-binding component of the SIR complex, forms oligomers in vitro and has been proposed to mediate the spreading of the SIR complex along the chromatin fiber. In order to analyze the role of Sir3 in the spreading of the SIR complex, we performed a targeted genetic screen for alleles of SIR3 that dominantly disrupt silencing. Most mutations mapped to a single surface in the conserved N-terminal BAH domain, while one, L738P, localized to the AAA ATPase-like domain within the C-terminal half of Sir3. The BAH point mutants, but not the L738P mutant, disrupted the interaction between Sir3 and nucleosomes. In contrast, Sir3-L738P bound the N-terminal tail of histone H4 more strongly than wild-type Sir3, indicating that misregulation of the Sir3 C-terminal histone-binding activity also disrupted spreading. Our results underscore the importance of proper interactions between Sir3 and the nucleosome in silent chromatin assembly. We propose a model for the spreading of the SIR complex along the chromatin fiber through the two distinct histone-binding domains in Sir3.     

Nucleosome acetylation sequencing to study the establishment of chromatin acetylation

The establishment of posttranslational chromatin modifications is a major mechanism for regulating how genomic DNA is utilized. However, current in vitro chromatin assays do not monitor histone modifications at individual nucleosomes. Here we describe a strategy, nucleosome acetylation sequencing, that allows us to read the amount of modification at each nucleosome. In this approach, a bead-bound trinucleosome substrate is enzymatically acetylated with radiolabeled acetyl CoA by the SAGA complex from Saccharomyces cerevisae. The product is digested by restriction enzymes that cut at unique sites between the nucleosomes and then counted to quantify the extent of acetylation at each nucleosomal site. We find that we can sensitively, specifically, and reproducibly follow enzyme-mediated nucleosome acetylation. Applying this strategy, when acetylation proceeds extensively, its distribution across nucleosomes is relatively uniform. However, when substrates are used that contain nucleosomes mutated at the major sites of SAGA-mediated acetylation, or that are studied under initial rate conditions, changes in the acetylation distribution can be observed. Nucleosome acetylation sequencing should be applicable to analyzing a wide range of modifications. Additionally, because our trinucleosomes synthesis strategy is highly modular and efficient, it can be used to generate nucleosomal systems in which nucleosome composition differs across the array.     

Quantitative analysis of single-molecule force spectroscopy on folded chromatin fibers

Single-molecule techniques allow for picoNewton manipulation and nanometer accuracy measurements of single chromatin fibers. However, the complexity of the data, the heterogeneity of the composition of individual fibers and the relatively large fluctuations in extension of the fibers complicate a structural interpretation of such force-extension curves. Here we introduce a statistical mechanics model that quantitatively describes the extension of individual fibers in response to force on a per nucleosome basis. Four nucleosome conformations can be distinguished when pulling a chromatin fiber apart. A novel, transient conformation is introduced that coexists with single wrapped nucleosomes between 3 and 7 pN. Comparison of force-extension curves between single nucleosomes and chromatin fibers shows that embedding nucleosomes in a fiber stabilizes the nucleosome by 10 k_BT. Chromatin fibers with 20- and 50-bp linker DNA follow a different unfolding pathway. These results have implications for accessibility of DNA in fully folded and partially unwrapped chromatin fibers and are vital for understanding force unfolding experiments on nucleosome arrays.     

Genome-Wide Identification of Chromatin Transitional Regions Reveals Diverse Mechanisms Defining the Boundary of Facultative Heterochromatin

Due to the self-propagating nature of the heterochromatic modification H3K27me3, chromatin barrier activities are required to demarcate the boundary and prevent it from encroaching into euchromatic regions. Studies in Drosophila and vertebrate systems have revealed several important chromatin barrier elements and their respective binding factors. However, epigenomic data indicate that the binding of these factors are not exclusive to chromatin boundaries. To gain a comprehensive understanding of facultative heterochromatin boundaries, we developed a two-tiered method to identify the Chromatin Transitional Region (CTR), i.e. the nucleosomal region that shows the greatest transition rate of the H3K27me3 modification as revealed by ChIP-Seq. This approach was applied to identify CTRs in Drosophila S2 cells and human HeLa cells. Although many insulator proteins have been characterized in Drosophila, less than half of the CTRs in S2 cells are associated with known insulator proteins, indicating unknown mechanisms remain to be characterized. Our analysis also revealed that the peak binding of insulator proteins are usually 1–2 nucleosomes away from the CTR. Comparison of CTR-associated insulator protein binding sites vs. those in heterochromatic region revealed that boundary-associated binding sites are distinctively flanked by nucleosome destabilizing sequences, which correlates with significant decreased nucleosome density and increased binding intensities of co-factors. Interestingly, several subgroups of boundaries have enhanced H3.3 incorporation but reduced nucleosome turnover rate. Our genome-wide study reveals that diverse mechanisms are employed to define the boundaries of facultative heterochromatin. In both Drosophila and mammalian systems, only a small fraction of insulator protein binding sites co-localize with H3K27me3 boundaries. However, boundary-associated insulator binding sites are distinctively flanked by nucleosome destabilizing sequences, which correlates with significantly decreased nucleosome density and increased binding of co-factors.     

Telomeric repeats act as nucleosome-disfavouring sequences in vivo

Telomeric DNAs consist of tandem repeats of G-clusters such as TTAGGG and TG_1-3, which are the human and yeast repeat sequences, respectively. In the yeast Saccharomyces cerevisiae, the telomeric repeats are non-nucleosomal, whereas in humans, they are organized in tightly packaged nucleosomes. However, previous in vitro studies revealed that the binding affinities of human and yeast telomeric repeat sequences to histone octamers in vitro were similar, which is apparently inconsistent with the differences in the human and yeast telomeric chromatin structures. To further investigate the relationship between telomeric sequences and chromatin structure, we examined the effect of telomeric repeats on the formation of positioned nucleosomes in vivo by indirect end-label mapping, primer extension mapping and nucleosome repeat analyses, using a defined minichromosome in yeast cells. We found that the human and yeast telomeric repeat sequences both disfavour nucleosome assembly and alter nucleosome positioning in the yeast minichromosome. We further demonstrated that the G-clusters in the telomeric repeats are required for the nucleosome-disfavouring properties. Thus, our results suggest that this inherent structural feature of the telomeric repeat sequences is involved in the functional dynamics of the telomeric chromatin structure.     

News & Notes: Stochastic Nucleosome Positioning in a Yeast Chromatin Region Is Not Dependent on Histone H1

To gain a better understanding of the function of the yeast histone H1, its role in nucleosome positioning was studied. With this objective in mind, we analyzed a chromatin region of the yeast Chromosome (Chr) IX, in which there are two closely packed open reading frames (ORFs), POT1 and YIL161w. This locus shows a regular ladder of 13 stochastically positioned nucleosomes, which is unaffected by the absence of the HHO1 gene. This suggests that histone H1 has no effect on nucleosome positioning in yeast. Received: 30 December 1998 / Accepted: 6 May 1999     

Role of the conserved Sir3-BAH domain in nucleosome binding and silent chromatin assembly

Silent chromatin domains in Saccharomyces cerevisiae represent examples of epigenetically heritable chromatin. The formation of these domains involves the recruitment of the SIR complex, composed of Sir2, Sir3, and Sir4, followed by iterative cycles of NAD-dependent histone deacetylation and spreading of SIR complexes over adjacent chromatin domains. We show here that the conserved bromo-adjacent homology (BAH) domain of Sir3 is a nucleosome- and histone-tail-binding domain and that its binding to nucleosomes is regulated by residues in the N terminus of histone H4 and the globular domain of histone H3 on the exposed surface of the nucleosome. Furthermore, using a partially purified system containing nucleosomes, the three Sir proteins, and NAD, we observe the formation of SIR-nucleosome filaments with a diameter of less than 20 nm. Together, these observations suggest that the SIR complex associates with an extended chromatin fiber through interactions with two different regions in the nucleosome.     

Predicting nucleosome positions on the DNA: combining intrinsic sequence preferences and remodeler activities

Nucleosome positions on the DNA are determined by the intrinsic affinities of histone proteins to a given DNA sequence and by the ATP-dependent activities of chromatin remodeling complexes that can translocate nucleosomes with respect to the DNA. Here, we report a theoretical approach that takes into account both contributions. In the theoretical analysis two types of experiments have been considered: in vitro experiments with a single reconstituted nucleosome and in vivo genome-scale mapping of nucleosome positions. The effect of chromatin remodelers was described by iteratively redistributing the nucleosomes according to certain rules until a new steady state was reached. Three major classes of remodeler activities were identified: (i) the establishment of a regular nucleosome spacing in the vicinity of a strong positioning signal acting as a boundary, (ii) the enrichment/depletion of nucleosomes through amplification of intrinsic DNA-sequence-encoded signals and (iii) the removal of nucleosomes from high-affinity binding sites. From an analysis of data for nucleosome positions in resting and activated human CD4⁺ T cells [Schones et al., Cell 132, p. 887] it was concluded that the redistribution of a nucleosome map to a new state is greatly facilitated if the remodeler complex translocates the nucleosome with a preferred directionality.     

Spontaneous access to DNA target sites in folded chromatin fibers

DNA wrapped in nucleosomes is sterically occluded from many protein complexes that must act on it; how such complexes gain access to nucleosomal DNA is not known. In vitro studies on isolated nucleosomes show that they undergo spontaneous partial unwrapping conformational transitions, which make the wrapped nucleosomal DNA transiently accessible. Thus, site exposure might provide a general mechanism allowing access of protein complexes to nucleosomal DNA. However, existing quantitative analyses of site exposure focused on single nucleosomes, while the presence of neighbor nucleosomes and concomitant chromatin folding might significantly influence site exposure. In this work, we carried out quantitative studies on the accessibility of nucleosomal DNA in homogeneous nucleosome arrays. Two striking findings emerged. Organization into chromatin fibers changes the accessibility of nucleosomal DNA only modestly, from ∼ 3-fold decreases to ∼ 8-fold increases in accessibility. This means that nucleosome arrays are intrinsically dynamic and accessible even when they are visibly condensed. In contrast, chromatin folding decreases the accessibility of linker DNA by as much as ∼ 50-fold. Thus, nucleosome positioning dramatically influences the accessibility of target sites located inside nucleosomes, while chromatin folding dramatically regulates access to target sites in linker DNA.     

The fork protection complex recruits FACT to reorganize nucleosomes during replication

Chromosome replication depends on efficient removal of nucleosomes by accessory factors to ensure rapid access to genomic information. Here, we show this process requires recruitment of the nucleosome reorganization activity of the histone chaperone FACT. Using single-molecule FRET, we demonstrate that reorganization of nucleosomal DNA by FACT requires coordinated engagement by the middle and C-terminal domains of Spt16 and Pob3 but does not require the N-terminus of Spt16. Using structure-guided pulldowns, we demonstrate instead that the N-terminal region is critical for recruitment by the fork protection complex subunit Tof1. Using in vitro chromatin replication assays, we confirm the importance of these interactions for robust replication. Our findings support a mechanism in which nucleosomes are removed through the coordinated engagement of multiple FACT domains positioned at the replication fork by the fork protection complex.