Sensitivity of cohesin-chromatin association to high salt treatment corroborates non-topological mode of loop extrusion

Cohesin is a key organizer of chromatin folding in eukaryotic cells. Two basic activities of this ring-shaped protein complex are maintenance of sister chromatid cohesion and establishment of long-range DNA-DNA interactions through the process of loop extrusion. Though basic principles of both cohesion and loop extrusion have been described we still do not understand several crucial mechanistic details. One of such unresolved issues is the question of whether a cohesin ring topologically embraces DNA string(s) during loop extrusion. Here we show that cohesin complexes residing on CTCF-occupied genomic sites in mammalian cells do not interact with DNA topologically. We assessed stability of cohesin-dependent loops and cohesin association with chromatin in high ionic strength conditions in G1-synchronised HeLa cells. We found that increased salt concentration completely displaces cohesin from those genomic regions which correspond to CTCF-defined loop anchors. Unsurprisingly, CTCF-anchored cohesin loops also dissipate in these conditions. As topologically-engaged cohesin is considered to be salt-resistant, our data corroborate a non-topological model of loop extrusion. We used C-TALE and ChIP-seq to assess sensitivity of cohesin-chromatin association to high salt treatment in HeLa cells