RT Journal
A1 González, Sara
A1 García, Alicia
A1 Vázquez, Enrique
A1 Serrano, Rebeca
A1 Sánchez, Mar
A1 Quintales, Luis
A1 Antequera, Francisco
T1 Nucleosomal signatures impose nucleosome positioning in coding and noncoding sequences in the genome
JF Genome Research 
JO Genome Research 
YR 2016 
FD November 01 
VO 26 
IS 11 
SP 1532 
OP 1543 
DO 10.1101/gr.207241.116 
UL http://genome.cshlp.org/content/26/11/1532.abstract 
AB In the yeast genome, a large proportion of nucleosomes occupy well-defined and stable positions. While the contribution of chromatin remodelers and DNA binding proteins to maintain this organization is well established, the relevance of the DNA sequence to nucleosome positioning in the genome remains controversial. Through quantitative analysis of nucleosome positioning, we show that sequence changes distort the nucleosomal pattern at the level of individual nucleosomes in three species of Schizosaccharomyces and in Saccharomyces cerevisiae. This effect is equally detected in transcribed and nontranscribed regions, suggesting the existence of sequence elements that contribute to positioning. To identify such elements, we incorporated information from nucleosomal signatures into artificial synthetic DNA molecules and found that they generated regular nucleosomal arrays indistinguishable from those of endogenous sequences. Strikingly, this information is species-specific and can be combined with coding information through the use of synonymous codons such that genes from one species can be engineered to adopt the nucleosomal organization of another. These findings open the possibility of designing coding and noncoding DNA molecules capable of directing their own nucleosomal organization.