Nucleosome mapping of Tetrahymena thermophila chromatin in vivo and in vitro

A conserved hallmark of eukaryotic chromatin architecture is the distinctive array of well-positioned nucleosomes downstream of transcription start sites (TSS). Recent studies indicate that trans-acting factors establish this stereotypical array. Here, we present the first genome-wide in vitro and in vivo nucleosome maps for the ciliate Tetrahymena thermophila. In contrast with previous studies in yeast, we find that the stereotypical nucleosome array is preserved in the in vitro reconstituted map, which is governed only by the DNA sequence preferences of nucleosomes. Remarkably, this average in vitro pattern arises from subsets of nucleosomes, rather than the whole array, being present in individual Tetrahymena genes. Variation in GC content contributes to the positioning of these sequence-directed nucleosomes, and affects codon usage and amino acid composition in genes. We propose that these ‘seed’ nucleosomes may aid the AT-rich Tetrahymena genome – which is intrinsically unfavorable for nucleosome formation – in establishing nucleosome arrays in vivo in concert with trans-acting factors, while minimizing changes to the coding sequences they are embedded within. All data are from the macronuclear genome. Datasets: 1) Log-phase cells, fixed chromatin, light MNase digest; 2) Log-phase cells, native chromatin, heavy MNase digest; 3) Starved cells, fixed chromatin, light MNase digest; 4) Starved cells, native chromatin, heavy MNase digest; 5) in vitro reconstituted chromatin, 50ul reaction, 4:10 histone:DNA ratio, light MNase digest; 6) in vitro reconstituted chromatin, 50ul reaction, 7:10 histone:DNA ratio, light MNase digest; 7) in vitro reconstituted chromatin, 150ul reaction, 4:10 histone:DNA ratio, light MNase digest; 8) in vitro reconstituted chromatin, 150ul reaction, 4:10 histone:DNA ratio, heavy MNase digest; Control dataset: 9): MNase-digested naked DNA