Figure 5. Asymmetric chromatin maturation leads to epigenetic asymmetries on sister chromatids.

(A) One the leading strand, the transcription factor (TF) binds and initiates transcription, which helps structure and order the nucleosomes on the leading strand. On the lagging strand, TF binding fails to occur in a timely manner, allowing nucleosomes to encroach upon binding site. (B) Transcription on the leading strand leads to deposition of marks associated with transcription such as H3 variant H3.3 and tri-methylation of the 4^th lysine on histone H3 (H3K4me3). The transcriptionally-inert lagging strand receives none of these chromatin modifications.