A nanoscale DNA force spectrometer capable of applying tension and compression on biomolecules.

Single molecule force spectroscopy is a powerful approach to probe the structure, conformational changes, and kinetic properties of biological and synthetic macromolecules. However, common approaches to apply forces to biomolecules require expensive and cumbersome equipment and relatively large probes such as beads or cantilevers, which limits their use for many environments and makes integrating with other methods challenging. Furthermore, existing methods have key limitations such as an inability to apply compressive forces on single molecules. We report a nanoscale DNA force spectrometer (nDFS), which is based on a DNA origami hinge with tunable mechanical and dynamic properties. The angular free energy landscape of the nDFS can be engineered across a wide range through substitution of less than 5% of the strand components. We further incorporate a removable strut that enables reversible toggling of the nDFS between open and closed states to allow for actuated application of tensile and compressive forces. We demonstrate the ability to apply compressive forces by inducing a large bend in a 249bp DNA molecule, and tensile forces by inducing DNA unwrapping of a nucleosome sample. These results establish a versatile tool for force spectroscopy and robust methods for designing nanoscale mechanical devices with tunable force application.

Quantitative Modeling of Nucleosome Unwrapping from Both Ends.

In eukaryotic cells, DNA is packaged into chromatin where nucleosomes are the basic packaging unit. Important cellular processes including gene expression, DNA replication, and DNA repair require nucleosomal DNA to be unwrapped so that functional proteins can access their target sites, which otherwise are sterically occluded. A key question in this process is what the unwrapped conformations individual nucleosomes adopt within chromatin are. Here, we develop a concurrent nucleosome unwrapping model to address this question. We hypothesize that for a given end-to-end distance of the nucleosomal DNA, the nucleosomal DNA stochastically unwraps from the histone core from both ends independently and that this combination of unwrapping from both sides results in a significant increase in the average distance between the DNA extending from both sides of the nucleosomes. We test our model on recently published experiments using a DNA origami nanocaliper that quantifies nucleosome unwrapping and achieve good agreement between experiment and model prediction. We then investigate the DNA origami caliper distribution when attached to a hexasome (a nucleosome lacking an H2A/H2B dimer). A significant shift in the caliper angle distribution caused by the asymmetric structural features of the hexasome seen experimentally is consistent with the model. Our modeling approach may be more broadly useful to the interpretation of other studies of nucleosome dynamics, chromatin dynamics, and regulatory processes involving nucleosome unwrapping, as well as more generally to optimization of future DNA origami designs to probe mechanical properties of biomolecules.

Covalent Modifications of Histone H3K9 Promote Binding of CHD3.

Chromatin remodeling is required for genome function and is facilitated by ATP-dependent complexes, such as nucleosome remodeling and deacetylase (NuRD). Among its core components is the chromodomain helicase DNA binding protein 3 (CHD3) whose functional significance is not well established. Here, we show that CHD3 co-localizes with the other NuRD subunits, including HDAC1, near the H3K9ac-enriched promoters of the NuRD target genes. The tandem PHD fingers of CHD3 bind histone H3 tails and posttranslational modifications that increase hydrophobicity of H3K9-methylation or acetylation (H3K9me3 or H3K9ac)-enhance this interaction. Binding of CHD3 PHDs promotes H3K9Cme3-nucleosome unwrapping in vitro and perturbs the pericentric heterochromatin structure in vivo. Methylation or acetylation of H3K9 uniquely alleviates the intra-nucleosomal interaction of histone H3 tails, increasing H3K9 accessibility. Collectively, our data suggest that the targeting of covalently modified H3K9 by CHD3 might be essential in diverse functions of NuRD.

Probing Nucleosome Stability with a DNA Origami Nanocaliper.

The organization of eukaryotic DNA into nucleosomes and chromatin undergoes dynamic structural changes to regulate genome processing, including transcription and DNA repair. Critical chromatin rearrangements occur over a wide range of distances, including the mesoscopic length scale of tens of nanometers. However, there is a lack of methodologies that probe changes over this mesoscopic length scale within chromatin. We have designed, constructed, and implemented a DNA-based nanocaliper that probes this mesoscopic length scale. We developed an approach of integrating nucleosomes into our nanocaliper at two attachment points with over 50% efficiency. Here, we focused on attaching the two DNA ends of the nucleosome to the ends of the two nanocaliper arms, so the hinge angle is a readout of the nucleosome end-to-end distance. We demonstrate that nucleosomes integrated with 6, 26, and 51 bp linker DNA are partially unwrapped by the nanocaliper by an amount consistent with previously observed structural transitions. In contrast, the nucleosomes integrated with the longer 75 bp linker DNA remain fully wrapped. We found that the nanocaliper angle is a sensitive measure of nucleosome disassembly and can read out transcription factor (TF) binding to its target site within the nucleosome. Interestingly, the nanocaliper not only detects TF binding but also significantly increases the probability of TF occupancy at its site by partially unwrapping the nucleosome. These studies demonstrate the feasibility of using DNA nanotechnology to both detect and manipulate nucleosome structure, which provides a foundation of future mesoscale studies of nucleosome and chromatin structural dynamics.