No abstract

The regulated binding of effector proteins to the nucleosome plays a central role in the activation and silencing of eukaryotic genes. How this binding changes the properties of chromatin to mediate gene activation or silencing is not fully understood. Here we provide evidence that association of the budding yeast silent information regulator 3 (Sir3) silencing protein with the nucleosome induces a conformational change in the amino terminus of histone H4 that promotes interactions between the conserved H4 arginines 17 and 19 (R17 and R19) and nucleosomal DNA. Substitutions of H4R17 and R19 with alanine abolish silencing in vivo, but have little or no effect on binding of Sir3 to nucleosomes or histone H4 peptides in vitro. Furthermore, in both the previously reported crystal structure of the Sir3-bromo adjacent homology (BAH) domain bound to the Xenopus laevis nucleosome core particle and the crystal structure of the Sir3-BAH domain bound to the yeast nucleosome core particle described here, H4R17 and R19 make contacts with nucleosomal DNA rather than with Sir3. These results suggest that Sir3 binding generates a more stable nucleosome by clamping H4R17 and R19 to nucleosomal DNA, and raise the possibility that such induced changes in histone-DNA contacts play major roles in the regulation of chromatin structure.gene silencing | histone H4 tail

Heterochromatin is a conserved feature of eukaryotic chromosomes with central roles in regulation of gene expression and maintenance of genome stability. Heterochromatin formation involves spreading of chromatin-modifying factors away from initiation points over large DNA domains by poorly understood mechanisms. In Saccharomyces cerevisiae, heterochromatin formation requires the SIR complex, which contains subunits with histone-modifying, histone-binding, and self-association activities. Here, we analyze binding of the Sir proteins to reconstituted mono-, di-, tri-, and tetra-nucleosomal chromatin templates and show that key Sir-Sir interactions bridge only sites on different nucleosomes but not sites on the same nucleosome, and are therefore 'interrupted' with respect to sites on the same nucleosome. We observe maximal binding affinity and cooperativity to unmodified di-nucleosomes and propose that nucleosome pairs bearing unmodified histone H4-lysine16 and H3-lysine79 form the fundamental units of Sir chromatin binding and that cooperative binding requiring two appropriately modified nucleosomes mediates selective Sir recruitment and spreading.DOI: http://dx.doi.org/10.7554/eLife.17556.001

Complexes formed in mixtures of cationic liposomes of varying charge density and nucleosome core particles (NCPs) or nucleosome arrays have been characterized. Under most of the conditions studied, the lipids and NCPs or arrays formed lamellar structures similar to those obtained with the liposomes and pure DNA. Thus, the dissociation of DNA from the NCP or nucleosome array and the formation of a DNA-lipid complex is thermodynamically favored, which can likely be ascribed mainly to the gain in entropy on release of the small counterions. Only at very low liposome charge densities are there indications that the NCPs/arrays do not dissociate upon interaction with the lipid bilayers. The reported results can serve as a valuable reference point in investigations of biologically more relevant systems.