Nucleosome positioning properties of the albumin transcriptional enhancer

Considering the importance of nucleosome position with regard to how regulatory factors recognize their binding sites in chromatin, we have investigated the inherent nucleosome positioning properties of a transcriptional enhancer of the albumin gene. In the liver, where the albumin gene is highly expressed, the enhancer exists in an array of precisely positioned, nucleosome-like particles with transcription factors bound. In the absence of specific binding factors, such as in non-liver tissues or in polynucleosome arrays assembled in vitro, nucleosomes are randomly positioned over the enhancer. Herein we investigate the intrinsic nucleosome positioning properties of the central enhancer sequence assembled into mononucleosome core particles in vitro. We find that the enhancer DNA prefers three translational positions, each of which utilizes different rotational settings on the nucleosome core. We conclude that DNA binding factors that position nucleosomes may do so by stabilizing one configuration out of several that can be adopted by the underlying DNA, and that the potential exists for different positions to be stabilized at different stages of development.