Transcription shapes 3D chromatin organization by interacting with loop extrusion

Abstract Cohesin folds mammalian interphase chromosomes by extruding the chromatin fiber into numerous loops. “Loop extrusion” can be impeded by chromatin-bound factors, such as CTCF, which generates characteristic and functional chromatin organization patterns. It has been proposed that transcription relocalizes or interferes with cohesin, and that active promoters are cohesin loading sites. However, the effects of transcription on cohesin have not been reconciled with observations of active extrusion by cohesin. To determine how transcription modulates extrusion, we studied mouse cells in which we could alter cohesin abundance, dynamics, and localization by genetic ‘knockouts’ of the cohesin regulators CTCF and Wapl. Through Hi-C experiments, we discovered intricate, cohesin-dependent contact patterns near active genes. Chromatin organization around active genes exhibited hallmarks of interactions between transcribing RNA polymerases (RNAPs) and extruding cohesins. These observations could be reproduced by polymer simulations in which RNAPs were “moving barriers” to extrusion that obstructed, slowed, and pushed cohesins. The simulations predicted that preferential loading of cohesin at promoters is inconsistent with our experimental data. Additional ChIP-seq experiments showed that the putative cohesin loader Nipbl is not predominantly enriched at promoters. Therefore, we propose that cohesin is not preferentially loaded at promoters and that the barrier function of RNAP accounts for cohesin accumulation at active promoters. Altogether, we find that RNAP is a new type of extrusion barrier that is not stationary, but rather, translocates and relocalizes cohesin. Loop extrusion and transcription might interact to dynamically generate and maintain gene interactions with regulatory elements and shape functional genomic organization. Significance Statement Loop extrusion by cohesin is critical to folding the mammalian genome into loops. Extrusion can be halted by CTCF proteins bound at specific genomic loci, which generates chromosomal domains and can regulate gene expression. However, the process of transcription itself can modulate cohesin, thus refolding chromosomes near active genes. Through experiments and simulations, we show that transcribing RNA polymerases (RNAPs) act as “moving barriers” to loop-extruding cohesins. Unlike stationary CTCF barriers, RNAPs actively relocalize cohesins, which generates characteristic patterns of spatial organization around active genes. Our model predicts that the barrier function of RNAP can explain why cohesin accumulates at active promoters and provides a mechanism for clustering active promoters. Through transcription-extrusion interactions, cells might dynamically regulate functional genomic contacts.