SWI/SNF-Like Chromatin Remodeling Factor Fun30 Supports Point Centromere Function in S. cerevisiae

Budding yeast centromeres are sequence-defined point centromeres and are,unlike in many other organisms,not embedded in heterochromatin. here we show that fun30,a poorly understood swi/snf-like chromatin remodeling factor conserved in humans,promotes point centromere function through the formation of correct chromatin architecture at centromeres. our determination of the genome-wide binding and nucleosome positioning properties of fun30 shows that this enzyme is consistently enriched over centromeres and that a majority of cens show fun30-dependent changes in flanking nucleosome position and/or cen core micrococcal nuclease accessibility. fun30 deletion leads to defects in histone variant htz1 occupancy genome-wide,including at and around most centromeres. fun30 genetically interacts with cse4,coding for the centromere-specific variant of histone h3,and counteracts the detrimental effect of transcription through centromeres on chromosome segregation and suppresses transcriptional noise over centromere cen3. previous work has shown a requirement for fission yeast and mammalian homologs of fun30 in heterochromatin assembly. as centromeres in budding yeast are not embedded in heterochromatin,our findings indicate a direct role of fun30 in centromere chromatin by promoting correct chromatin architecture. © 2012 durand-dubief et al.