Identification of cis-acting sites for condensin loading onto budding yeast chromosomes

  1. Claudio D’Ambrosio1,
  2. Christine Katrin Schmidt1,
  3. Yuki Katou2,
  4. Gavin Kelly3,
  5. Takehiko Itoh4,
  6. Katsuhiko Shirahige2, and
  7. Frank Uhlmann1,5
  1. 1 Chromosome Segregation Laboratory, Cancer Research UK London Research Institute, London WC2A 3PX, United Kingdom;
  2. 2 Laboratory of Chromosome Structure and Function, Department of Biological Science, Tokyo Institute of Technology, Midori-ku, Yokohama 226-8501, Japan;
  3. 3 Bioinformatics & Biostatistics Service, Cancer Research UK London Research Institute, London WC2A 3PX, United Kingdom;
  4. 4 Research Center for Advanced Science and Technology, Mitsubishi Research Institute Inc., Chiyoda-ku, Tokyo 100-8141, Japan

Abstract

Eukaryotic chromosomes reach their stable rod-shaped appearance in mitosis in a reaction dependent on the evolutionarily conserved condensin complex. Little is known about how and where condensin associates with chromosomes. Here, we analyze condensin binding to budding yeast chromosomes using high-resolution oligonucleotide tiling arrays. Condensin-binding sites coincide with those of the loading factor Scc2/4 of the related cohesin complex. The sites map to tRNA and other genes bound by the RNA polymerase III transcription factor TFIIIC, and ribosomal protein and SNR genes. An ectopic B-box element, recognized by TFIIIC, constitutes a minimal condensin-binding site, and TFIIIC and the Scc2/4 complex promote functional condensin association with chromosomes. A similar pattern of condensin binding is conserved along fission yeast chromosomes. This reveals that TFIIIC-binding sites, including tRNA genes, constitute a hitherto unknown chromosomal feature with important implications for chromosome architecture during both interphase and mitosis.

Keywords

Footnotes

  • 5 Corresponding author.

    5 E-MAIL frank.uhlmann{at}cancer.org.uk; FAX 44-207-269-3258.

  • Supplemental material is available at http://www.genesdev.org.

  • Article is online at http://www.genesdev.org/cgi/doi/10.1101/gad.1675708.

    • Received March 18, 2008.
    • Accepted June 25, 2008.
  • Freely available online through the Genes & Development Open Access option.

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