Nucleosome dynamics. Protein and DNA contributions in the chiral transition of the tetrasome, the histone (H3-H4)2 tetramer-DNA particle.

Our laboratory has previously reported the chiral transition of DNA minicircle-reconstituted tetrasomes (the particles made of DNA wrapped around the histone (H3-H4)2tetramer). This transition was induced by DNA positive torsional constraint, generated either by initial supercoiling of the loop or by its thermal fluctuations during topoisomerase relaxation. Taking into account the wrapping of the DNA around the histones into less than a turn, and its negative crossing at the entry-exit, the transition was proposed to involve a 360 degrees rotation of the loop around the particle dyad axis, and the formation of a positive crossing. The tetramer horseshoe-shaped conformation within the octamer further suggested that this process could be mediated by a reorientation of the two sector-like H3-H4 dimers about their H3/H3 interface, which would switch the overall handedness of the proteinaceous superhelix from left to right-handed. We now provide additional evidence for such a contribution of the protein by showing, through gel electrophoresis, topoisomerase relaxation and electron microscopy, that a sterical hindrance at the H3/H3 interface, introduced by covalent linking of bulky adducts through thiol oxidation of H3 cysteine 110, interferes with the transition. Such interference varies, depending on the particular SH-reagent used; but the most remarkable effect was obtained with 5, 5'-dithiobis (2-nitrobenzoic acid) (DTNB), which displaces the preferred conformation of the tetrasomes from left-handed to semi-right-handed, and at the same time preserves a significant degree of chiral flexibility. DNA contribution was evidenced by a specific fractionation of circular tetrasomes in gel electrophoresis which, together with a different positioning of control and DTNB tetrasomes on linear DNA, pointed to an interdependence between tetrasome conformation and positions. Moreover, linear tetrasomes fluctuate between crossed and uncrossed conformations in a salt-dependent equilibrium which appears to vary with their positions on the DNA. These data suggest a modulatable role of the DNA around the dyad in the transition, depending primarily on its sequence-dependent deformability. This role is played at both levels of H3-H4 dimer reorientation and lateral opening, a mechanism by which the particle may relieve the clash between its entering and exiting DNAs. These properties make the tetrasome an attractive potential intermediate in nucleosome dynamics in vivo, in particular duringX transcriptional activation and elongation.