Distinct Chromatin Scanning Modes Lead to Targeting of Compacted Chromatin by Pioneer Factors FOXA1 and SOX2
Description
Pioneer transcription factors interact with nucleosomes to scan silent, compact chromatin, enabling cooperative events that modulate gene activity. While at a subset of sites, pioneer factors access chromatin by assisted loading with other transcription factors, the nucleosome binding properties of pioneer factors enable them to initiate zygotic genome activation, embryonic development, and cellular reprogramming. To better understand nucleosome targeting in vivo, we assessed whether pioneer factors FoxA1 and Sox2 target stable or unstable nucleosomes and found that they target DNase-resistant, stable nucleosomes, whereas HNF4A, a non-nucleosome binding factor, targets open, DNase-sensitive chromatin. Despite FOXA1 and SOX2 targeting similar proportions of DNase-resistant chromatin, using single-molecule tracking, we found that FOXA1 uses lower nucleoplasmic diffusion and longer residence times while SOX2 uses higher nucleoplasmic diffusion and shorter residence times to scan compact chromatin, while HNF4 does not scan compact chromatin. Thus pioneer factors target compact chromatin through distinct processes.