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Schwartz, Uwe ; Németh, Attila ; Diermeier, Sarah ; Exler, Josef H. ; Hansch, Stefan ; Maldonado, Rodrigo ; Heizinger, Leonhard ; Merkl, Rainer ; Längst, Gernot

Characterizing the nuclease accessibility of DNA in human cells to map higher order structures of chromatin

Schwartz, Uwe, Németh, Attila, Diermeier, Sarah , Exler, Josef H., Hansch, Stefan, Maldonado, Rodrigo, Heizinger, Leonhard , Merkl, Rainer and Längst, Gernot (2018) Characterizing the nuclease accessibility of DNA in human cells to map higher order structures of chromatin. Nucleic Acids Research 2018 (1), pp. 1-16.

Date of publication of this fulltext: 29 Jan 2019 09:45
Article
DOI to cite this document: 10.5283/epub.38273


Abstract

Packaging of DNA into chromatin regulates DNA accessibility and consequently all DNA-dependent processes. The nucleosome is the basic packaging unit of DNA forming arrays that are suggested, by biochemical studies, to fold hierarchically into ordered higher-order structures of chromatin. This organization has been recently questioned using microscopy techniques, proposing an irregular structure. ...

Packaging of DNA into chromatin regulates DNA accessibility and consequently all DNA-dependent processes. The nucleosome is the basic packaging unit of DNA forming arrays that are suggested, by biochemical studies, to fold hierarchically into ordered higher-order structures of chromatin. This organization has been recently questioned using microscopy techniques, proposing an irregular structure. To address the principles of chromatin organization, we applied an in situ differential MNase-seq strategy and analyzed in silico the results of complete and partial digestions of human chromatin. We investigated whether different levels of chromatin packaging exist in the cell. We assessed the accessibility of chromatin within distinct domains of kb to Mb genomic regions, performed statistical analyses and computer modelling. We found no difference in MNase accessibility, suggesting no difference in fiber folding between domains of euchromatin and heterochromatin or between other sequence and epigenomic features of chromatin. Thus, our data suggests the absence of differentially organized domains of higher-order structures of chromatin. Moreover, we identified only local structural changes, with individual hyper-accessible nucleosomes surrounding regulatory elements, such as enhancers and transcription start sites. The regulatory sites per se are occupied with structurally altered nucleosomes, exhibiting increased MNase sensitivity. Our findings provide biochemical evidence that supports an irregular model of large-scale chromatin organization.



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Details

Item typeArticle
Journal or Publication TitleNucleic Acids Research
Publisher:Oxford Univ. Press
Place of Publication:OXFORD
Volume:2018
Number of Issue or Book Chapter:1
Page Range:pp. 1-16
Date28 November 2018
InstitutionsBiology, Preclinical Medicine > Institut für Biophysik und physikalische Biochemie
Biology, Preclinical Medicine > Institut für Biophysik und physikalische Biochemie > Prof. Dr. Rainer Merkl
Biology, Preclinical Medicine > Institut für Biochemie, Genetik und Mikrobiologie
Biology, Preclinical Medicine > Institut für Biochemie, Genetik und Mikrobiologie > Lehrstuhl für Biochemie III
Biology, Preclinical Medicine > Institut für Biochemie, Genetik und Mikrobiologie > Lehrstuhl für Biochemie III > Prof. Dr. Gernot Längst
Identification Number
ValueType
10.1093/nar/gky1203DOI
KeywordsNUCLEOSOME ORGANIZATION; MICROCOCCAL NUCLEASE; CRYOELECTRON MICROSCOPY; READ ALIGNMENT; BETA-GLOBIN; IN-SITU; GENOME; TRANSCRIPTION; DOMAINS; FIBERS;
Dewey Decimal Classification500 Science > 570 Life sciences
StatusPublished
RefereedYes, this version has been refereed
Created at the University of RegensburgYes
URN of the UB Regensburgurn:nbn:de:bvb:355-epub-382737
Item ID38273

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