Chromatin remodelers are ATP-hydrolyzing machines specialized to restructure, mobilize or eject nucleosomes, allowing regulated exposure of DNA in chromatin. Recently, remodelers have been analyzed using single-molecule techniques in real time, revealing them to be complex DNA-pumping machines. The results both support and challenge aspects of current models of remodeling, supporting the idea that the remodeler translocates or pumps DNA loops into and around the nucleosome, while also challenging earlier concepts about loop formation, the character of the loop and how it propagates. Several complex behaviors were observed, such as reverse translocation and long translocation bursts of the remodeler, without appreciable DNA twist. This review presents and discusses revised models for nucleosome sliding and ejection that integrate this new information with the earlier biochemical studies.Many processes involving chromosomes are guided by DNA-binding proteins, and the access of these proteins to DNA is regulated by chromatin. Nucleosomes, the primary repeating unit of chromatin, package DNA by wrapping 147 base pairs (bp) around an octamer of histone proteins in ∼1.7 helical turns 1-3 . This packaging provides topological order but occludes one face of the DNA, which slows or prevents the recognition of DNA sequences by DNA-binding proteins. To maintain topological order, and also to allow rapid and regulated access to the DNA, cells have evolved a set of chromatin-remodeling machines that alter nucleosome position, presence and structure.Remodelers can be separated into several families on the basis of their composition and activities: SWI/SNF, ISWI, NURD/Mi-2/CHD and the 'split ATPases' INO80 and SWR1 (which bear an insertion within their ATPase domains). Rad54 may represent an additional family, as it perturbs chromatin in vitro, but it apparently lacks specific nucleosome-interacting domains 4,5 . The participation of remodelers in various chromosomal processes has been the subject of many reviews 6-9 . The present work focuses solely on remodeler mechanisms, and primarily on the function of their conserved catalytic subunit, a superfamily 2 (SF2) ATPdependent DNA translocase. Recently, single-molecule approaches have been used to examine several remodelers, providing many new insights into their behavior. Here I discuss these recent studies, compare them with previous biochemical studies and suggest refinements to existing models to account for some of the observations.
Remodelers slide, eject and restructure nucleosomesRemodelers can affect nucleosomes in at least four ways ( Fig. 1): (i) sliding, or moving the histone octamer to a new position, which exposes DNA 10-12 ; (ii) ejection, or completely displacing the octamer to expose DNA [13][14][15][16] ; (iii) removal of H2A-H2B dimers, leaving only the central H3-H4 tetramer, which exposes DNA and destabilizes the nucleosome 17,18 ; and (iv) dimer replacement-for example, exchanging the resident H2A-H2B dimers for dimers NIH Public Access