High precision FRET studies reveal reversible transitions in nucleosomes between microseconds and minutes

Alexander Gansen, Suren Felekyan, Ralf Kühnemuth, Kathrin Lehmann, Katalin Tóth (), Claus A. M. Seidel () and Jörg Langowski
Additional contact information
Alexander Gansen: DKFZ, Div. Biophysics of Macromolecules
Suren Felekyan: Lehrstuhl für Molekulare Physikalische Chemie
Ralf Kühnemuth: Lehrstuhl für Molekulare Physikalische Chemie
Kathrin Lehmann: DKFZ, Div. Biophysics of Macromolecules
Katalin Tóth: DKFZ, Div. Biophysics of Macromolecules
Claus A. M. Seidel: Lehrstuhl für Molekulare Physikalische Chemie
Jörg Langowski: DKFZ, Div. Biophysics of Macromolecules

Nature Communications, 2018, vol. 9, issue 1, 1-13

Abstract: Abstract Nucleosomes play a dual role in compacting the genome and regulating the access to DNA. To unravel the underlying mechanism, we study fluorescently labeled mononucleosomes by multi-parameter FRET measurements and characterize their structural and dynamic heterogeneity upon NaCl-induced destabilization. Species-selective fluorescence lifetime analysis and dynamic photon distribution analysis reveal intermediates during nucleosome opening and lead to a coherent structural and kinetic model. In dynamic octasomes and hexasomes the interface between the H2A-H2B dimers and the (H3-H4)2 tetramer opens asymmetrically by an angle of ≈20° on a 50 and 15 µs time scale, respectively. This is followed by a slower stepwise release of the dimers coupled with DNA unwrapping. A mutation (H2A-R81A) at the interface between H2A and H3 facilitates initial opening, confirming the central role of the dimer:tetramer interface for nucleosome stability. Partially opened states such as those described here might serve as convenient nucleation sites for DNA-recognizing proteins.

Date: 2018
References: Add references at CitEc
Citations: View citations in EconPapers (1)

Downloads: (external link)
https://www.nature.com/articles/s41467-018-06758-1 Abstract (text/html)

Related works:
This item may be available elsewhere in EconPapers: Search for items with the same title.

Export reference: BibTeX RIS (EndNote, ProCite, RefMan) HTML/Text

Persistent link: https://EconPapers.repec.org/RePEc:nat:natcom:v:9:y:2018:i:1:d:10.1038_s41467-018-06758-1

Ordering information: This journal article can be ordered from
https://www.nature.com/ncomms/

DOI: 10.1038/s41467-018-06758-1

Access Statistics for this article

Nature Communications is currently edited by Nathalie Le Bot, Enda Bergin and Fiona Gillespie

More articles in Nature Communications from Nature
Bibliographic data for series maintained by Sonal Shukla () and Springer Nature Abstracting and Indexing ().