title: Binding of the transcription factor Atf1 to promoters serves as a barrier to phase nucleosome arrays and avoid cryptic transcription.
abstract: Schizosaccharomyces pombe displays a large transcriptional response common to several stress conditions, regulated primarily by the transcription factor Atf1. Atf1-dependent promoters contain especially broad nucleosome depleted regions (NDRs) prior to stress imposition. We show here that basal binding of Atf1 to these promoters competes with histones to create wider NDRs at stress genes. Moreover, deletion of atf1 results in nucleosome disorganization specifically at stress coding regions and derepresses antisense transcription. Our data indicate that the transcription factor binding to promoters acts as an effective barrier to fix the +1 nucleosome and phase downstream nucleosome arrays to prevent cryptic transcription.
authors.affiliation: Oxidative Stress and Cell Cycle Group, Departament de Ciències Experimentals i de la Salut, Universitat Pompeu Fabra, C/ Dr Aiguader 88, 08003 Barcelona, Spain.
authors.forename: Patricia
authors.initials: P
authors.lastname: García
authors.affiliation: Oxidative Stress and Cell Cycle Group, Departament de Ciències Experimentals i de la Salut, Universitat Pompeu Fabra, C/ Dr Aiguader 88, 08003 Barcelona, Spain.
authors.forename: Esther
authors.initials: E
authors.lastname: Paulo
authors.affiliation: Department of Biochemistry and Molecular Biology, University of Arkansas for Medical Sciences, 4301 W Markham St., Little Rock, AR 72205, USA.
authors.forename: Jun
authors.initials: J
authors.lastname: Gao
authors.affiliation: Department of Biochemistry and Molecular Biology, University of Arkansas for Medical Sciences, 4301 W Markham St., Little Rock, AR 72205, USA.
authors.forename: Wayne P
authors.initials: WP
authors.lastname: Wahls
authors.affiliation: Oxidative Stress and Cell Cycle Group, Departament de Ciències Experimentals i de la Salut, Universitat Pompeu Fabra, C/ Dr Aiguader 88, 08003 Barcelona, Spain.
authors.forename: José
authors.initials: J
authors.lastname: Ayté
authors.affiliation: Core Facilities, Centre for Genomic Regulation, Universitat Pompeu Fabra, C/ Dr Aiguader 88, 0800 Barcelona, Spain.
authors.forename: Ernesto
authors.initials: E
authors.lastname: Lowy
authors.affiliation: Oxidative Stress and Cell Cycle Group, Departament de Ciències Experimentals i de la Salut, Universitat Pompeu Fabra, C/ Dr Aiguader 88, 08003 Barcelona, Spain elena.hidalgo@upf.edu.
authors.forename: Elena
authors.initials: E
authors.lastname: Hidalgo
mesh_terms: D051697:Activating Transcription Factor 1 / Q000737:chemistry / Q000378:metabolism*; D001665:Binding Sites; D005800:Genes, Fungal; D009707:Nucleosomes / Q000378:metabolism*; D010750:Phosphoproteins / Q000737:chemistry / Q000378:metabolism*; D011401:Promoter Regions, Genetic; D017434:Protein Structure, Tertiary; D012568:Schizosaccharomyces / Q000235:genetics; D029702:Schizosaccharomyces pombe Proteins / Q000737:chemistry / Q000378:metabolism*; D014158:Transcription, Genetic
chemical_list: D051697:Activating Transcription Factor 1; D009707:Nucleosomes; D010750:Phosphoproteins; D029702:Schizosaccharomyces pombe Proteins; C106740:atf1 protein, S pombe