Nucleosomal organization of replication origins and meiotic recombination hotspots in fission yeast

In Schizosaccharomyces pombe, DNA replication origins (ORIs) and meiotic recombination hotspots lack consensus sequences and show a bias towards mapping at large intergenic regions (IGRs). To explore whether this preference depended on underlying chromatin features, we have generated genome-wide nucleosome profiles during mitosis and meiosis. We have found that meiotic double-strand break sites (DSB) colocalize strictly with nucleosome-depleted regions (NDRs) and that large IGRs include clusters of NDRs that overlap with almost half of all DSBs. By contrast, ORIs do not colocalize with NDRs and they are regulated independently of DSBs. Physical relocation of NDRs at ectopic loci or modification of their genomic distribution during meiosis was paralleled by the generation of new DSB sites. Over 80% of all meiotic DSBs colocalize with NDRs that are also present during mitosis, indicating that the recombination pattern is largely dependent on constitutive properties of the genome and, to a lesser extent, on the transcriptional profile during meiosis. The organization of ORIs and of DSBs regions in S. pombe reveals similarities and differences relative to Saccharomyces cerevisiae. Ten different samples including a total of 14 independent microarray experiments were analyzed. Two samples of immunoprecipitated DNA (including 2 biological replicates of each) for ORC mapping. Four samples of mononucleosomal DNA (including 2 biological replicates of one of them) for nucleosome mapping. Four samples of total RNA for genome-wide transcription mapping (including 2 biological replicates of one of them). Affymetrix GeneChip 1.0FR tiling microarrays (GPL7715) were used for all the experiments.