Exogenous artificial DNA forms chromatin structure with active transcription in yeast [ChIP-seq]

Chromosomes and plasmids are two forms of genetic carriers. Exogenous yeast artificial chromosomes are also considered as yeast centromeric plasmids in many cases. Here, we used state-of-the-art sequencing technologies to comprehensively profile the genetic, epigenetic, transcriptional and proteomic characteristics of an exogenous data-carrying chromosome. We found that the data-carrying DNA formed active chromatin with high chromatin accessibility and H3K4 tri-methylation levels. We also confirmed that the data-carrying chromosome had a circular shape in the nucleus and was arranged in the Rabl configuration, which may contribute to the self-replication and haploidy of the chromosome in vivo. The data-carrying chromosome displayed highly pervasive transcriptional ability and transcribed hundreds of non-coding RNAs. In summary, this work explores the chromatin epigenetic state, chromatin structure and transcriptional landscape of an exogenous artificial chromosome. The results demonstrated that the exogenous artificial chromosome did form a chromatin structure and was not a naked and incompact plasmid, which strengthen our understanding of artificial chromosomes. Examinations of histone modification (H3K4me3 ChIP-seq) in two different kinds of yeast cells. One kind of these yeast cells contains an artificial data-carrying chromosome (dChr), another only contains an empty plasmid as control group.