Histone tail-independent chromatin binding activity of recombinant cohesin holocomplex.

ABSTRACT: Cohesin, an SMC (structural maintenance of chromosomes) protein-containing complex, governs several important aspects of chromatin dynamics, including the essential chromosomal process of sister chromatid cohesion. The exact mechanism by which cohesin achieves the bridging of sister chromatids is not known. To elucidate this mechanism, we reconstituted a recombinant cohesin complex and investigated its binding to DNA fragments corresponding to natural chromosomal sites with high and low cohesin occupancy in vivo. Cohesin displayed uniform but nonspecific binding activity with all DNA fragments tested. Interestingly, DNA fragments with high occupancy by cohesin in vivo showed strong nucleosome positioning in vitro. We therefore utilized a defined model chromatin fragment (purified reconstit

SUBMITTER: Kagansky A 

PROVIDER: S-EPMC2680671 | biostudies-literature | 2004 Jan

REPOSITORIES: biostudies-literature