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Summary Sister chromatid cohesion conferred by entrapment of sister DNAs within a tripartite ring formed between cohesin’s Scc1, Smc1, and Smc3 subunits is created during S and destroyed at anaphase through Scc1 cleavage by separase. Cohesin’s association with chromosomes is controlled by opposing activities: loading by Scc2/4 complex and release by a separase-independent releasing activity as well as by cleavage. Coentrapment of sister DNAs at replication is accompanied by acetylation of Smc3 by Eco1, which blocks releasing activity and ensures that sisters remain connected. Because fusion of Smc3 to Scc1 prevents release and bypasses the requirement for Eco1, we suggested that release is mediated by disengagement of the Smc3/Scc1 interface. We show that mutations capable of bypassing Eco1 in Smc1, Smc3, Scc1, Wapl, Pds5, and Scc3 subunits reduce dissociation of N-terminal cleavage fragments of Scc1 (NScc1) from Smc3. This process involves interaction between Smc ATPase heads and is inhibited by Smc3 acetylation., Graphical Abstract, Highlights • Releasing activity disengages cohesin’s Smc3/Scc1 interface • Releasing activity requires an interaction between the SMC ATPase domains • Smc3 acetylation inhibits releasing activity, Cohesin entraps sister DNAs within a ring formed by its Scc1, Smc1, and Smc3 subunits. Beckouët et el. have shown that cohesin’s release from the DNA is mediated by disengagement of the Smc3/Scc1 interface. This process involves interaction between the SMC ATPase heads and is inhibited by Smc3 acetylation.

Summary Cohesin stably holds together the sister chromatids from S phase until mitosis. To do so, cohesin must be protected against its cellular antagonist Wapl. Eco1 acetylates cohesin’s Smc3 subunit, which locks together the sister DNAs. We used yeast genetics to dissect how Wapl drives cohesin from chromatin and identified mutants of cohesin that are impaired in ATPase activity but remarkably confer robust cohesion that bypasses the need for the cohesin protectors Eco1 in yeast and Sororin in human cells. We uncover a functional asymmetry within the heart of cohesin’s highly conserved ABC-like ATPase machinery and find that both ATPase sites contribute to DNA loading, whereas DNA release is controlled specifically by one site. We propose that Smc3 acetylation locks cohesin rings around the sister chromatids by counteracting an activity associated with one of cohesin’s two ATPase sites., Graphical Abstract, Highlights • Cohesin’s DNA release involves an asymmetric activity within its ATPase machinery • DNA release is driven by the ATPase site proximal to the locking acetylation marks • Cohesin’s DNA release is ATPase driven in yeast and humans • Cohesin’s loading onto DNA is controlled by both of its ATPase sites, Tight regulation of DNA entrapment and release by the cohesin complex is crucial for its multiple cellular functions. Elbatsh et al. find that cohesin’s release from DNA requires an activity associated with one of its ATPase sites, whereas both sites control cohesin’s loading onto DNA.

Summary Cohesin organizes DNA into chromatids, regulates enhancer-promoter interactions, and confers sister chromatid cohesion. Its association with chromosomes is regulated by hook-shaped HEAT repeat proteins that bind Scc1, namely Scc3, Pds5, and Scc2. Unlike Pds5, Scc2 is not a stable cohesin constituent but, as shown here, transiently replaces Pds5. Scc1 mutations that compromise its interaction with Scc2 adversely affect cohesin’s ATPase activity and loading. Moreover, Scc2 mutations that alter how the ATPase responds to DNA abolish loading despite cohesin’s initial association with loading sites. Lastly, Scc2 mutations that permit loading in the absence of Scc4 increase Scc2’s association with chromosomal cohesin and reduce that of Pds5. We suggest that cohesin switches between two states: one with Pds5 bound that is unable to hydrolyze ATP efficiently but is capable of release from chromosomes and another in which Scc2 replaces Pds5 and stimulates ATP hydrolysis necessary for loading and translocation from loading sites., Graphical Abstract, Highlights • Among Hawks, Scc2 is sufficient to activate cohesin’s ATPase in the presence of DNA • Scc1 mutants that compromise Scc2 binding reduce ATPase activity and cohesin loading • Scc2 gain-of-function mutations increase its association with chromosomal cohesin • Increased Scc2 association with chromosomal cohesin correlates with a decrease in Pds5, Cohesin switches between two states: one with Pds5 bound that is unable to hydrolyze ATP efficiently but is capable of release from chromosomes and another one in which Scc2 replaces Pds5 and stimulates ATP hydrolysis required for loading and translocation.

Summary Cohesin entraps sister DNAs within tripartite rings created by pairwise interactions between Smc1, Smc3, and Scc1. Because Smc1/3 ATPase heads can also interact with each other, cohesin rings have the potential to form a variety of sub-compartments. Using in vivo cysteine cross-linking, we show that when Smc1 and Smc3 ATPases are engaged in the presence of ATP (E heads), cohesin rings generate a “SMC (S) compartment” between hinge and E heads and a “kleisin (K) compartment” between E heads and their associated kleisin subunit. Upon ATP hydrolysis, cohesin’s heads associate in a different mode, in which their signature motifs and their coiled coils are closely juxtaposed (J heads), creating alternative S and K compartments. We show that K compartments of either E or J type can entrap single DNAs, that acetylation of Smc3 during S phase is associated with J heads, and that sister DNAs are entrapped in J-K compartments., Graphical Abstract, Highlights • Smc1 and Smc3 ATPase heads adopt an engaged (E) and a juxtaposed (J) state in vivo • Smc ATPase heads delimit an Smc (S) and a kleisin (K) compartment • Single DNA molecule can be entrapped inside K compartments of either E or J type • Sister DNAs are entrapped in J-K compartments with J-head Smc3 being acetylated, Sister chromatid cohesion is thought to be conferred by sister DNA entrapment within the cohesin ring. Chapard et al. show that cohesin’s Smc heads interact with each other in two different ways in vivo, allowing sister DNA entrapment between juxtaposed ATPase heads and kleisin of the cohesin complex.

Sister chromatid cohesion is mediated by entrapment of sister DNAs by a tripartite ring composed of cohesin's Smc1, Smc3, and α-kleisin subunits. Cohesion requires acetylation of Smc3 by Eco1, whose role is to counteract an inhibitory (antiestablishment) activity associated with cohesin's Wapl subunit. We show that mutations abrogating antiestablishment activity also reduce turnover of cohesin on pericentric chromatin. Our results reveal a "releasing" activity inherent to cohesin complexes transiently associated with Wapl that catalyzes their dissociation from chromosomes. Fusion of Smc3's nucleotide binding domain to α-kleisin's N-terminal domain also reduces cohesin turnover within pericentric chromatin and permits establishment of Wapl-resistant cohesion in the absence of Eco1. We suggest that releasing activity opens the Smc3/α-kleisin interface, creating a DNA exit gate distinct from its proposed entry gate at the Smc1/3 interface. According to this notion, the function of Smc3 acetylation is to block its dissociation from α-kleisin. The functional implications of regulated ring opening are discussed. © 2012 Elsevier Inc.

We now take for granted that despite the disproportionate contribution of females to initial growth of their progeny, there is little or no asymmetry in the contribution of males and females to the eventual character of their shared offspring. In fact, this key insight was only established towards the end of the eighteenth century by Joseph Koelreuter's pioneering plant breeding experiments. If males and females supply equal amounts of hereditary material, then the latter must double each time an embryo is conceived. How then does the amount of this mysterious stuff not multiply exponentially from generation to generation? A compensatory mechanism for diluting the hereditary material must exist, one that ensures that if each parent contributes one half, each grandparent contributes a quarter, and each great grandparent merely an eighth. An important piece of the puzzle of how hereditary material is diluted at each generation has been elucidated over the past ten years.

Cohesin's structural maintenance of chromosome 1 (Smc1) and Smc3 are rod-shaped proteins with 50-nm long intra-molecular coiled-coil arms with a heterodimerization domain at one end and an ABC-like nucleotide-binding domain (NBD) at the other. Heterodimerization creates V-shaped molecules with a hinge at their centre. Inter-connection of NBDs by Scc1 creates a tripartite ring within which, it is proposed, sister DNAs are entrapped. To investigate whether cohesin's hinge functions as a possible DNA entry gate, we solved the crystal structure of the hinge from Mus musculus, which like its bacterial counterpart is characterized by a pseudo symmetric heterodimeric torus containing a small channel that is positively charged. Mutations in yeast Smc1 and Smc3 that together neutralize the channel's charge have little effect on dimerization or association with chromosomes, but are nevertheless lethal. Our finding that neutralization reduces acetylation of Smc3, which normally occurs during replication and is essential for cohesion, suggests that the positively charged channel is involved in a major conformational change during S phase. © 2011 European Molecular Biology Organization | All Rights Reserved.

Sequencing DNA fragments associated with proteins following in vivo cross-linking with formaldehyde (known as ChIP-seq) has been used extensively to describe the distribution of proteins across genomes. It is not widely appreciated that this method merely estimates a protein's distribution and cannot reveal changes in occupancy between samples. To do this, we tagged with the same epitope orthologous proteins in Saccharomyces cerevisiae and Candida glabrata, whose sequences have diverged to a degree that most DNA fragments longer than 50 bp are unique to just one species. By mixing defined numbers of C. glabrata cells (the calibration genome) with S. cerevisiae samples (the experimental genomes) prior to chromatin fragmentation and immunoprecipitation, it is possible to derive a quantitative measure of occupancy (the occupancy ratio - OR) that enables a comparison of occupancies not only within but also between genomes. We demonstrate for the first time that this 'internal standard' calibration method satisfies the sine qua non for quantifying ChIP-seq profiles, namely linearity over a wide range. Crucially, by employing functional tagged proteins, our calibration process describes a method that distinguishes genuine association within ChIP-seq profiles from background noise. Our method is applicable to any protein, not merely highly conserved ones, and obviates the need for the time consuming, expensive, and technically demanding quantification of ChIP using qPCR, which can only be performed on individual loci. As we demonstrate for the first time in this paper, calibrated ChIP-seq represents a major step towards documenting the quantitative distributions of proteins along chromosomes in different cell states, which we term biological chromodynamics.

20th International Chromosome Conference (ICCXX) 50th Anniversary, University of Kent, Canterbury, 1st–4th September 2014