Structural and dynamic studies of chromatin by solid-state NMR spectroscopy

Chromatin is a complex of DNA with histone proteins organized into nucleosomes that regulates genome accessibility and controls transcription, replication and repair by dynamically switching between open and compact states as a function of different parameters including histone post-translational modifications and interactions with chromatin modulators. Continuing advances in structural biology techniques including X-ray crystallography, cryo-electron microscopy and nuclear magnetic resonance (NMR) spectroscopy have facilitated studies of chromatin systems, in spite of challenges posed by their large size and dynamic nature, yielding important functional and mechanistic insights. In this review we highlight recent applications of magic angle spinning solid-state NMR – an emerging technique that is uniquely-suited toward providing atomistic information for rigid and flexible regions within biomacromolecular assemblies – to detailed characterization of structure, conformational dynamics and interactions for histone core and tail domains in condensed nucleosomes and oligonucleosome arrays mimicking chromatin at high densities characteristic of the cellular environment.