Preferentially Quantized Linker DNA Lengths in Saccharomyces cerevisiae

The exact lengths of linker DNAs connecting adjacent nucleosomes specify the intrinsic three-dimensional structures of eukaryotic chromatin fibers. Some studies suggest that linker DNA lengths preferentially occur at certain quantized values, differing one from another by integral multiples of the DNA helical repeat, ∼10 bp; however, studies in the literature are inconsistent. Here, we investigate linker DNA length distributions in the yeast Saccharomyces cerevisiae genome, using two novel methods: a Fourier analysis of genomic dinucleotide periodicities adjacent to experimentally mapped nucleosomes and a duration hidden Markov model applied to experimentally defined dinucleosomes. Both methods reveal that linker DNA lengths in yeast are preferentially periodic at the DNA helical repeat (∼10 bp), obeying the forms 10n+5 bp (integer n). This 10 bp periodicity implies an ordered superhelical intrinsic structure for the average chromatin fiber in yeast.Author Summary: Eukaryotic genomic DNA exists as chromatin, with the DNA wrapped locally into a repeating array of protein–DNA complexes (“nucleosomes”) separated by short stretches of unwrapped “linker” DNA. Nucleosome arrays further compact into ∼30-nm-wide higher-order chromatin structures. Despite decades of work, there remains no agreement about the structure of the 30 nm fiber, or even if the structure is ordered or random. The helical symmetry of DNA couples the one-dimensional distribution of nucleosomes along the DNA to an intrinsic three-dimensional structure for the chromatin fiber. Random linker length distributions imply random three-dimensional intrinsic fiber structures, whereas different possible nonrandom length distributions imply different ordered structures. Here we use two independent computational methods, with two independent kinds of experimental data, to experimentally define the probability distribution of linker DNA lengths in yeast. Both methods agree that linker DNA lengths in yeast come in a set of preferentially quantized lengths that differ one from another by ∼10 bp, the DNA helical repeat, with a preferred phase offset of 5 bp. The preferential quantization of lengths implies that the intrinsic three-dimensional structure for the average chromatin fiber is ordered, not random. The 5 bp offset implies a particular geometry for this intrinsic structure.