DNA Sequence Differentially Modulates Histone Core and Tail Interactions in Canonical and Centromeric Nucleosomes

CENP-A centromeric nucleosomes show a more stable histone core and reduced histone-DNA contacts than canonical H3 nucleosomes, with distinct tail engagement dynamics.

• Why it matters: Centromeric identity depends on CENP-A nucleosomes on -satellite DNA, but how DNA sequence and histone variant jointly reshape nucleosome structure and interactions is not fully defined.
• What they did: Using SIRAH coarse-grained molecular dynamics simulations, the study compared nucleosomes assembled on -satellite positioning sequence (ASP) versus Widom 601 for canonical H3 and centromeric CENP-A, including tests of CENP-N binding.
• The result: Replacing ASP with Widom 601 preserves histone-core stability for both nucleosome types while markedly changing histone-tail dynamics; canonical nucleosomes are more strongly affected by Widom 601, whereas CENP-N binding produces more spatially extensive DNA geometry changes with Widom 601 than with ASP.

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