Quantifying liquid-liquid phase separation property of chromatin under physiological conditions using Hi-MS and Hi-C

BackgroundLiquid-liquid phase separation (LLPS) is an important organizing principle for biomolecular condensation and chromosome compartmentalization. However, while many proteins have been reported to undergo LLPS, quantitative and global analysis of chromatin LLPS property remains absent. ResultsHere, by combing chromatin associated protein pull-down, quantitative proteomics and 1,6-hexanediol treatment, we developed Hi-MS and defined anti-1,6-HD index of chromatin-associated proteins (AICAP) to quantitative measurement of LLPS property of chromatin-associated proteins in their endogenous state and physiological abundance. The AICAP values were verified by previously reported experiments and were reproducible across different MS platforms. Moreover, the AICAP values were highly correlate with protein functions. Proteins act in active/regulatory biological process often exhibit low AICAP values, while proteins act in structural and repressed biological process often exhibit high AICAP values. We further revealed that chromatin organization changes more in compartment A than B, and the changes in chromatin organization at various levels, including compartments, TADs and loops are highly correlated to the LLPS properties of their neighbor nuclear condensates. ConclusionsOur work provided the first global quantitative measurement of LLPS properties of chromatin-associated proteins and higher-order chromatin structure, and demonstrate that the active/regulatory chromatin components, both protein (trans) and DNA (cis), exhibit more hydrophobicity-dependent LLPS properties than the repressed/structural chromatin components.