Suppression of liquid–liquid phase separation by 1,6-hexanediol partially compromises the 3D genome organization in living cells

Liquid–liquid phase separation (LLPS) contributes to the spatial and functional segregation of molecular processes within the cell nucleus. However, the role played by LLPS in chromatin folding in living cells remains unclear. Here, using stochastic optical reconstruction microscopy (STORM) and Hi-C techniques, we studied the effects of 1,6-hexanediol (1,6-HD)-mediated LLPS disruption/modulation on higher-order chromatin organization in living cells. We found that 1,6-HD treatment caused the enlargement of nucleosome clutches and their more uniform distribution in the nuclear space. At a megabase-scale, chromatin underwent moderate but irreversible perturbations that resulted in the partial mixing of A and B compartments. The removal of 1,6-HD from the culture medium did not allow chromatin to acquire initial configurations, and resulted in more compact repressed chromatin than in untreated cells. 1,6-HD treatment also weakened enhancer-promoter interactions and TAD insulation but did not considerably affect CTCF-dependent loops. Our results suggest that 1,6-HD-sensitive LLPS plays a limited role in chromatin spatial organization by constraining its folding patterns and facilitating compartmentalization at different levels.     

Distinct roles for histone chaperones in the deposition of Htz1 in chromatin

Histone variant Htz1 substitution for H2A plays important roles in diverse DNA transactions. Histone chaperones Chz1 and Nap1 (nucleosome assembly protein 1) are important for the deposition Htz1 into nucleosomes. In literatures, it was suggested that Chz1 is a Htz1–H2B-specific chaperone, and it is relatively unstructured in solution but it becomes structured in complex with the Htz1–H2B histone dimer. Nap1 (nucleosome assembly protein 1) can bind (H3–H4)₂ tetramers, H2A–H2B dimers and Htz1–H2B dimers. Nap1 can bind H2A–H2B dimer in the cytoplasm and shuttles the dimer into the nucleus. Moreover, Nap1 functions in nucleosome assembly by competitively interacting with non-nucleosomal histone–DNA. However, the exact roles of these chaperones in assembling Htz1-containing nucleosome remain largely unknown. In this paper, we revealed that Chz1 does not show a physical interaction with chromatin. In contrast, Nap1 binds exactly at the genomic DNA that contains Htz1. Nap1 and Htz1 show a preferential interaction with AG-rich DNA sequences. Deletion of chz1 results in a significantly decreased binding of Htz1 in chromatin, whereas deletion of nap1 dramatically increases the association of Htz1 with chromatin. Furthermore, genome-wide nucleosome-mapping analysis revealed that nucleosome occupancy for Htz1p-bound genes decreases upon deleting htz1 or chz1, suggesting that Htz1 is required for nucleosome structure at the specific genome loci. All together, these results define the distinct roles for histone chaperones Chz1 and Nap1 to regulate Htz1 incorporation into chromatin.