HP1 reshapes the nucleosome core to promote phase separation of heterochromatin

Heterochromatin impacts genome function at multiple scales. It enables heritable gene repression, maintains chromosome integrity and provides mechanical rigidity to the nucleus(1,2). It has been proposed that these diverse functions arise in part from compaction of the underlying chromatin. A major type of heterochromatin contains at its core the complex formed between HP1 proteins and chromatin that is methylated on histone H3, lysine 9 (H3K9me). HP1 is proposed to use oligomerization to compact chromatin into phase-separated condensates(3–6). Yet how HP1-mediated phase separation relates to chromatin compaction remains unclear. Here we demonstrate that chromatin compaction by the S. pombe HP1 protein, Swi6, results in phase-separated liquid condensates. Remarkably, we further find that Swi6 substantially increases the accessibility and dynamics of buried histone residues within a nucleosome. Restraining these dynamics impairs chromatin compaction by Swi6 into liquid droplets. Our results indicate that Swi6 couples oligomerization to the phase separation of chromatin by a counter-intuitive mechanism, namely dynamic exposure of buried nucleosomal regions. We propose that such reshaping of the octamer core by Swi6 increases opportunities for multivalent interactions between nucleosomes, thereby promoting phase separation. This mechanism may more generally drive chromatin organization beyond heterochromatin.