Individual transcription factors modulate both the micromovement of chromatin and its long-range structure

Abstract

The control of eukaryotic gene expression is intimately connected to highly dynamic chromatin structures. Gene regulation relies on activator and repressor transcription factors (TFs) that induce local chromatin opening and closing. However, it is unclear how nucleus-wide chromatin organization responds dynamically to the activity of specific TFs. Here, we examined how two TFs with opposite effects on local chromatin accessibility modulate chromatin dynamics nucleus-wide. We combine high-resolution diffusion mapping and dense flow reconstruction and correlation in living cells to obtain an imaging-based, nanometer-scale analysis of local diffusion processes and long-range coordinated movements of both chromatin and TFs. We show that the expression of either an individual transcriptional activator (CDX2) or repressor (SIX6) with large numbers of binding sites increases chromatin mobility nucleus-wide, yet they induce opposite coherent chromatin motions at the micron scale. Hi-C analysis of higher-order chromatin structures shows that induction of the pioneer factor CDX2 leads both to changes in local chromatin interactions and the distribution of A and B compartments, thus relating the micromovement of chromatin with changes in compartmental structures. Given that inhibition of transcription initiation and elongation by RNA Pol II has a partial impact on the global chromatin dynamics induced by CDX2, we suggest that CDX2 overexpression alters chromatin structure dynamics both dependently and independently of transcription. Our biophysical analysis shows that sequence-specific TFs can influence chromatin structure on multiple architectural levels, arguing that local chromatin changes brought by TFs alter long-range chromatin mobility and its organization.