Phenotypic selection during laboratory evolution of yeast populations leads to a genome-wide sustainable chromatin compaction shift

In a previous study, we have shown how microbial evolution has resulted in a persistent reduction in expression after repeatedly selecting for the lowest P-GAL1-YFP-expressing cells. Applying the ATAC-seq assay on samples collected from this 28-day evolution experiment, here we show how genome-wide chromatin compaction changes during evolution under selection pressure. We found that the chromatin compaction was altered not only on GAL network genes directly impacted by the selection pressure, showing an example of selection-induced non-genetic memory, but also at the whole-genome level. The GAL network genes experienced chromatin compaction accompanying the reduction in P-GAL1-YFP reporter expression. Strikingly, the fraction of global genes with differentially compacted chromatin states accounted for about a quarter of the total genome. Moreover, some of the ATAC-seq peaks followed well-defined temporal dynamics. Comparing peak intensity changes on consecutive days, we found most of the differential compaction to occur between days 0 and 3 when the selection pressure was first applied, and between days 7 and 10 when the pressure was lifted. Among the gene sets enriched for the differential compaction events, some had increased chromatin availability once selection pressure was applied and decreased availability after the pressure was lifted (or vice versa). These results intriguingly show that, despite the lack of targeted selection, transcriptional availability of a large fraction of the genome changes in a very diverse manner during evolution, and these changes can occur in a relatively short number of generations.