DNA physical properties determine nucleosome occupancy from yeast to fly.

ABSTRACT: Nucleosome positioning plays an essential role in cellular processes by modulating accessibility of DNA to proteins. Here, using only sequence-dependent DNA flexibility and intrinsic curvature, we predict the nucleosome occupancy along the genomes of Saccharomyces cerevisiae and Drosophila melanogaster and demonstrate the predictive power and universality of our model through its correlation with experimentally determined nucleosome occupancy data. In yeast promoter regions, the computed average nucleosome occupancy closely superimposes with experimental data, exhibiting a <200 bp region unfavourable for nucleosome formation bordered by regions that facilitate nucleosome formation. In the fly, our model faithfully predicts promoter strength as encoded in distinct chromatin architectures ch

SUBMITTER: Miele V 

PROVIDER: S-EPMC2441789 | biostudies-literature | 2008 Jun

REPOSITORIES: biostudies-literature