Fine analysis of the chromatin structure of the yeast SUC2 gene and of its changes upon derepression. Comparison between the chromosomal and plasmid-inserted genes.

Micrococcal nuclease digestion has been used to investigate some fine details of the chromatin structure of the yeast SUC2 gene for invertase. Precisely positioned nucleosomes have been found on a 2 kb sequence from the 3' non-coding region, and four nucleosomes also seem to occupy fixed positions on the 5' flank. Eleven nucleosomes lie on the coding region, although their positioning is not as precise as in the flanks. When the gene is derepressed, these latter nucleosomes adopt a more open conformation and so do two of the nucleosomes positioned on the 5' flank. A dramatic change occurs in the 3' flank, whose involvement in the structural transitions of chromatin upon gene activation is postulated. All the observed features are conserved when the gene is inserted in either a single copy centromeric plasmid or in a multicopy, 2 micron circle-based plasmid.