Organization of the GAL1-GAL10 intergenic control region chromatin

A defined, "far upstream" promoter element, the Upstream Activator Sequence (UAS), which mediates the galactose dependent induction of expression of the GAL10 gene in yeast, is the locus of an anomalous, mainly expression independent chromatin structure. The UAS chromatin shows three symmetrical DNase I hypersensitive sites in brief digests, a loss of the 10 bp DNase I ladder pattern in more extensive digests and an enhanced staphylococcal nuclease sensitivity. This anomalous structure is confined to a small region of the UAS. The surrounding chromatin, including the TATA box regions shows a more typical, but expression dependent nucleoprotein, probably nucleosomal, organization. Such an arrangement may be a common feature of eukaryotic genes.