Histone chaperone-mediated co-expression assembly of tetrasomes and nucleosomes

The nucleosome, a basic unit of chromatin found in all eukaryotes, is thought to be assembled through the orchestrated activity of several histone chaperones and chromatin assembly factors in a stepwise manner, proceeding from tetrasome assembly, to H2A/H2B deposition, and finally to formation of the mature nucleosome. In this study, we demonstrate chaperone-mediated assembly of both tetrasomes and nucleosomes on the well-defined Widom 601 positioning sequence using a co-expression/reconstitution wheat germ cell-free system. The purified tetrasomes and nucleosomes were positioned around the center of a given sequence. The heights and diameters were measured by atomic force microscopy. Together with the reported unmodified native histones produced by the wheat germ cell-free platform, our method is expected to be useful for downstream applications in the field of chromatin research.