Evidence map›Paper›PMID 42350665›Full record

ArticleNature structural & molecular biology2026

Structural basis of asymmetric transcription through a composite nucleosome formed by a hexasome and an octasome.

Zhihui Chen, Cheng-Han Ho, Hiroki Tanaka, Tomoya Kujirai, Mitsuo Ogasawara, Haruhiko Ehara, Shun-Ichi Sekine, Yoshimasa Takizawa, Hitoshi Kurumizaka

Abstract read
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Article in Nature structural & molecular biology, 2026. The graph could read no effect estimate from its abstract, so it casts no vote on the map. Not yet cited in PubMed.

0numbers the graph read from it
0cells of the map it votes in
0citing papers in PubMed
–field-weighted citation impact
1 · What the graph read from it

What it found

Each row is one number read from the abstract, on the scale the paper reported it, with its interval. Left of the dashed line favours the treatment, right favours the comparator. Under each row is the sentence it came from. New to these charts? A ten-minute tutorial.

The abstract states no effect estimate the extractor could read, or names no intervention and outcome on the map, so this paper lights no cell and moves no belief. It is still indexed, cited and linked below.

2 · The registry

The trial behind it

Trials whose registry record cites this paper, or whose number appears in the abstract. A trial that started after this paper was published is citing it as background, not reporting it.

Neither the registry nor the abstract names a trial number. If this is a trial report, that itself is worth knowing.

3 · Its place in the literature

Who cites it

0 citing papers in PubMed.

No citing paper in PubMed yet.

4 · The record

Corrections and comments

PubMed lists nothing against this paper. Absence here is not a guarantee, only a check that was made.

5 · Who and what money

Authors and funding

9 authors.

Zhihui Chen *Laboratory of Chromatin Structure and Function, Institute for Quantitative Biosciences, The University of Tokyo, Tokyo, Japan.
Cheng-Han Ho *Laboratory of Chromatin Structure and Function, Institute for Quantitative Biosciences, The University of Tokyo, Tokyo, Japan.ORCID http://orcid.org/0000-0002-7350-6200
Hiroki TanakaLaboratory of Chromatin Structure and Function, Institute for Quantitative Biosciences, The University of Tokyo, Tokyo, Japan.
Tomoya KujiraiLaboratory of Chromatin Structure and Function, Institute for Quantitative Biosciences, The University of Tokyo, Tokyo, Japan.ORCID http://orcid.org/0000-0001-5547-9598
Mitsuo OgasawaraLaboratory of Chromatin Structure and Function, Institute for Quantitative Biosciences, The University of Tokyo, Tokyo, Japan.
Haruhiko EharaLaboratory for Transcription Structural Biology, RIKEN Center for Integrative Medical Sciences, Yokohama, Japan.ORCID http://orcid.org/0000-0002-7420-145X
Shun-Ichi SekineLaboratory for Transcription Structural Biology, RIKEN Center for Integrative Medical Sciences, Yokohama, Japan.ORCID http://orcid.org/0000-0001-8174-8704
Yoshimasa TakizawaLaboratory of Chromatin Structure and Function, Institute for Quantitative Biosciences, The University of Tokyo, Tokyo, Japan.ORCID http://orcid.org/0000-0002-6265-4830
Hitoshi KurumizakaLaboratory of Chromatin Structure and Function, Institute for Quantitative Biosciences, The University of Tokyo, Tokyo, Japan. kurumizaka@iqb.u-tokyo.ac.jp.ORCID http://orcid.org/0000-0001-7412-3722

Funding

No grant is acknowledged in the PubMed record.

6 · The paper itself

Abstract

The overlapping dinucleosome (OLDN), a composite chromatin particle consisting of a hexasome and a canonical octasome, forms immediately downstream of transcription start sites, probably through chromatin remodeling activity, and has been proposed to act as a transient regulatory intermediate during transcription. Nevertheless, how RNA polymerase II (RNAPII) engages with and transcribes through this unusual structure has remained unclear. Here we reconstituted OLDNs in vitro and performed transcription assays with RNAPII. We found that transcription efficiency was markedly higher when RNAPII initiated from the hexasome side than from the octasome side. Cryo-electron microscopy further revealed that transcription from the hexasome side induced pronounced conformational rearrangements, in which RNAPII progression dramatically opened the hexasome-octasome interface. These results identify a mechanism by which RNAPII senses the intrinsic transcriptional polarity of OLDNs and suggest that OLDNs function as dynamic, directionally sensitive regulators of transcription elongation.

Indexed as

NucleosomesRNA Polymerase IITranscription, GeneticCryoelectron MicroscopyModels, MolecularNucleosomesRNA Polymerase II

Identifiers

PMID42350665

What OpenQuestion holds

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Read under generation 80e0d062 · epoch 390. Bibliography from PubMed, PubMed Central and OpenAlex; grants from NIH RePORTER; trial links from ClinicalTrials.gov; estimates, votes and beliefs from the OpenQuestion graph.