Project name: The cohesin ring uses its hinge to organize DNA using non-topological as well as topological mechanisms

Description: As predicted by the notion that sister chromatid cohesion is mediated by entrapment of sister DNAs inside cohesin rings, there is a perfect correlation between co-entrapment of circular minichromosomes and sister chromatid cohesion. In most cells where cohesin loads onto chromosomes but fails to form cohesion, loading is accompanied by entrapment of individual DNAs. However, cohesin with a hinge whose positively charged lumen has been neutralized not only loads onto and translocates along chromatin but also organizes it into chromatid-like threads, despite largely failing to entrap DNAs inside its ring. Thus, cohesin engages chromatin in both a non-topological and a topological manner. Further, mutation of three highly conserved lysines within the Smc1 hinge abolishes all loading without affecting cohesin’s initial recruitment to centromers or its ability to hydrolyze ATP. We suggest that loading and translocation are mediated by conformational changes in cohesin’s hinge driven by cycles of ATP hydrolysis.Overall design: Effect of hinge mutations of S. cerevisiae cohesin complexes on loading onto chromosomes, assessed by calibrated ChIP-seq on an Ion Torrent Proton (Life Technologies)

Data type: Epigenomics

Sample scope: Multiisolate

Relevance: ModelOrganism

Last updated: 2017-10-16