The nucleosome DNA entry-exit site is important for transcription termination and prevention of pervasive transcription

Compared to the initiation and elongation stages of transcription, the role of chromatin in transcription termination is poorly understood. Through a yeast genetic screen, we identified histone H3 and H4 substitutions that cause transcription to read through the terminator of a small noncoding gene. The substitutions map to the nucleosome DNA entry-exit site, a region that controls nucleosome stability and certain histone modifications. Genome-wide studies on the strongest mutants revealed evidence of transcription read-through of noncoding and coding genes and reduced nucleosome occupancy. Replacement of the native sequence downstream of a gene with a “superbinder” sequence that increases nucleosome occupancy in vivo increased termination efficiency and suppressed the effect of a DNA entry-exit site substitution at this locus. Our results highlight the importance of the DNA entry-exit site in maintaining the integrity of the transcriptome and suggest that nucleosomes can facilitate termination by serving as a barrier to RNA polymerase. Overall design: RNA-seq, 4tU-seq, ChIP-seq, and MNase seq on S. cerevisiae Histone H3 Mutants in biological duplicate