Association of poly(adenosine diphosphate ribosylated) nucleosomes with transcriptionally active and inactive regions of chromatin.

We have investigated whether transcriptionally active or inactive gene sequences are associated in vivo with poly(adenosine diphosphate ribosylated) regions of chromatin. Soluble HeLa cell chromatin derived from nuclei treated either briefly or extensively with micrococcal nuclease was fractionated on an anti-poly(adenosine diphosphate ribose)-Sepharose column [Malik, N., Miwa, M., Sugimura, T., Thraves, P., & Smulson, M. E. (1983) Proc. Natl. Acad. Sci. U.S.A. 80, 2554-2558] to obtain fractions that were enriched or depleted in poly(ADP-ribosylated) chromatin. DNA obtained from these fractions was then probed for active and inactive gene sequences with a cDNA probe made from total cell mRNA and a probe for the beta-globin gene. Chromatin enriched in poly(ADP-ribosylated) nucleosomes contained both active and inactive gene sequences as detected by the probes and appeared to be more nuclease sensitive than that found in the fraction of chromatin depleted of poly(ADP-Rib). Poly(ADP-ribosylated) chromatin from nuclei digested briefly with nuclease showed an enrichment in both active and inactive genes while that treated extensively with nuclease showed either no enrichment or a depletion of active and inactive genes. Actively transcribed chromatin was digested at a rate several times that of the bulk or inactive chromatin. Nevertheless, the enrichment of active genes in poly(ADP-ribosylated) nucleosomes derived from brief nuclease digestion was greater than that of inactive genes. These results are interpreted as showing that some, but not all, of actively transcribed chromatin contains associated poly(ADP-ribosylated) proteins. However, since poly(ADP-ribosylated) proteins are also associated with inactive genes, the function of this modification cannot be assigned solely to transcription.