The conserved role of the RSC chromatin remodeler in the establishment of nucleosome depleted regions

The occupancy of nucleosomes governs access to the eukaryotic genomes and results from a combination of biophysical features and the effect of ATP-dependent remodeling complexes. Most promoter regions show a conserved pattern characterized by a nucleosome-depleted region (NDR) flanked by nucleosomal arrays. The conserved RSC remodeler was reported to be critical to establish NDR in vivo in budding yeast but other evidences suggested that this activity may not be conserved in fission yeast. By reanalysing and expanding previously published data, we propose that NDR formation is dependent on RSC in both yeast species. We also discuss the most prominent biological role of RSC and the possibility that non-essential subunits define alternate versions of the complex. Overall design: Samples from mononucleosomal DNA from S. pombe strains h- kanR-tetO-snf21-Tap-natR ura4::rTetR-tup11 were sequenced (Illumina NextSeq 500 platform) using the pair-end read protocol