{
  "id": 6772820,
  "title": "ATAC-seq and MNase-seq Detect Distinct Modes of Chromatin Accessibility",
  "url": "https://urgent.news/2026/09/11/atac-seq-and-mnase-seq-detect-distinct-modes-of-chromatin",
  "topic": "science",
  "section": "Science",
  "published": "2026-09-11T00:00:00.000Z",
  "source": {
    "name": "bioRxiv",
    "slug": "biorxiv",
    "url": "https://www.biorxiv.org/content/10.64898/2026.09.07.749956v1?rss=1"
  },
  "original_language": "en",
  "account": "Chromatin accessibility is crucial for gene regulation, and two primary methods to assess it are micrococcal nuclease (MNase)-seq and assay for transposase-accessible chromatin (ATAC)-seq. While ATAC-seq peaks are often equated with nucleosome-depleted regions (NDRs) defined by MNase-seq, a recent study has analyzed both techniques in budding yeast and discovered significant differences between the two. These findings suggest that ATAC-seq peaks and NDRs identify distinct chromatin states. The ATAC-seq peaks are associated with dynamic nucleosomes that interact with transcriptional co-regulators such as SAGA and SWI/SNF, while ATAC-NDRs mark more stable nucleosome-free regions near promoter regions. The study also reveals that the depletion of SWI/SNF impacts ATAC-seq signals but does not significantly alter NDRs. Moreover, the formation of NDRs and ATAC-seq peaks relies on different transcription factor (TF) characteristics, and native TFs exhibit varying abilities to generate these two types of open chromatin. Notably, the functional distinctions between ATAC-seq peaks and NDRs are consistently observed across various eukaryotic species, including human cells. These results offer novel insights into the biological implications of chromatin accessibility as measured by ATAC-seq and MNase-seq.",
  "summary": "Chromatin accessibility shapes the ability of transcription factors (TFs) and the transcriptional machinery to engage genomic DNA and therefore plays a central role in gene regulation. Two widely used approaches for profiling chromatin accessibility are micrococcal nuclease (MNase)-seq and assay for transposase-accessible chromatin (ATAC)-seq. ATAC-seq peaks are often thought to be equivalent to…",
  "key_points": [],
  "editors_take": null,
  "illustration": null,
  "coverage": {
    "outlets": 1,
    "also_reported_by": []
  },
  "ai_generated": true,
  "disclaimer": "Summaries, key points and the editor’s take are written by software from other outlets’ reporting and may contain errors — always check the linked original."
}