Conservation of chromatin states and their association with transcription factors in land plants

The complexity of varied modifications of chromatin composition is integrated in archetypal combinations called chromatin states that predict the local potential for transcription. The degree of conservation of chromatin states has not been established amongst plants, and how they interact with transcription factors is unknown. Here we identify and characterize chromatin states in the flowering plant Arabidopsis thaliana and the bryophyte Marchantia polymorpha, showing a large degree of functional conservation over more than 450 million years of land plant evolution. We used this new resource of conserved plant chromatin states to understand the influence of chromatin states on gene regulation. We established the preferential association of chromatin states with binding sites and activity of transcription factors. These associations define three main groups of transcription factors that bind upstream of the transcription start site, at the +1 nucleosome or further downstream of the transcription start site and broadly associate with distinct biological functions. The association with the +1 nucleosome defines a list of candidate pioneer factors we know little about in plants, compared to their important roles in animal stem cells and early development.