Second-generation method for analysis of chromatin binding using formaldehyde crosslinking kinetics

Abstract

Formaldehyde crosslinking underpins many of the most commonly used experimental approaches in the chromatin field, especially in capturing site-specific protein-DNA interactions. Extending such assays to assess the stability and binding kinetics of protein-DNA interactions is more challenging, requiring absolute measurements with a relatively high degree of physical precision. We previously described an experimental framework called CLK, which uses time-dependent formaldehyde crosslinking data to extract chromatin binding kinetic parameters. Many aspects of formaldehyde behavior in cells are unknown or undocumented, however, and could potentially impact analyses of CLK data. Here we report biochemical results that better define the properties of formaldehyde crosslinking in budding yeast cells. These results have the potential to inform interpretations of standard chromatin assays including chromatin immunoprecipitation, and the chemical complexity we uncovered resulted in the development of an improved method for measuring binding kinetics using the CLK approach. Optimum conditions included an increased formaldehyde concentration and more robust glycine quench conditions. Notably, we find that formaldehyde crosslinking rates can vary dramatically for different protein-DNA interactions in vivo. Some interactions were crosslinked much faster than the time scale for macromolecular interaction, making them suitable for kinetic analysis. For other interactions, we find the crosslinking reaction occurred on the same time scale or slower than binding dynamics; for these it was in some cases possible to compute the in vivo equilibrium-binding constant but not on- and off-rates for binding. Selected TATA-binding protein-promoter interactions displayed dynamic behavior on the minute to several minutes time scale.