Dynamics of Nucleosomes Assessed with Time-Lapse High-Speed Atomic Force Microscopy

A fundamental challenge of gene regulation is the accessibility of DNA within nucleosomes. Recent studies performed by various techniques, including single-molecule approaches, led to the realization that nucleosomes are quite dynamic rather than static systems, as they were once considered. Direct data are needed to characterize the dynamics of nucleosomes. Specifically, if nucleosomes are dynamic, the following questions need to be answered. What is the range of nucleosome dynamics? Is a non-ATP-dependent unwrapping of nucleosomes possible? What are the factors facilitating the large-scale opening and unwrapping of nucleosomes? In previous studies using time-lapse atomic force microscopy (AFM) imaging, we were able, for the first time, to observe spontaneous, ATP-independent unwrapping of nucleosomes. However, low temporal resolution did not allow visualization of various pathways of nucleosome dynamics. In the studies described here, we applied high-speed time-lapse AFM (HS-AFM) capable of visualizing molecular dynamics on the millisecond time scale to study the nucleosome dynamics. The mononucleosomes were assembled on a 353 bp DNA substrate containing nucleosome-specific 601 sequence. With HS-AFM, we were able to observe the dynamics of nucleosome on a subsecond time scale and visualize various pathways of nucleosome dynamics, such as sliding and unwrapping to various extents, including complete dissociation. These studies highlight an important role of electrostatic interactions in chromatin dynamics. Overall, our findings shed new light on nucleosome dynamics and provide a novel hypothesis for the mechanisms controlling the spontaneous dynamics of chromatin.