Functional crosstalk between the cohesin loader and chromatin remodelers

The cohesin complex has crucial roles in many structural and functional aspects of chromosomes including sister chromatid cohesion, genome organization, gene transcription and DNA repair. Cohesin recruitment onto chromosomes requires nucleosome free DNA and a specialized cohesin loader complex comprised of the Scc2 and Scc4 subunits. The cohesin loader, in addition to stimulating cohesin ATP hydrolysis and facilitating topological loading onto DNA, leads cohesin to chromatin receptors such as the RSC chromatin remodeling complex. Here, we explore the cohesin loader-RSC interaction and show that its Scc4 subunit contacts a conserved RSC ATPase motor module. The cohesin loader enhances RSC chromatin remodeling activity in vitro, as well as promoter nucleosome eviction in vivo. These findings provide insight into how the cohesin loader recognizes, as well as influences, the chromatin landscape, with implications for our understanding of human developmental disorders including Cornelia de Lange and Coffin-Siris syndromes.