Complexity of chromatin folding is captured by the strings and binders switch model
- 17 September 2012
- journal article
- research article
- Published by Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences in Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences of the United States of America
- Vol. 109 (40), 16173-16178
- https://doi.org/10.1073/pnas.1204799109
Abstract
Chromatin has a complex spatial organization in the cell nucleus that serves vital functional purposes. A variety of chromatin folding conformations has been detected by single-cell imaging and chromosome conformation capture-based approaches. However, a unified quantitative framework describing spatial chromatin organization is still lacking. Here, we explore the "strings and binders switch" model to explain the origin and variety of chromatin behaviors that coexist and dynamically change within living cells. This simple polymer model recapitulates the scaling properties of chromatin folding reported experimentally in different cellular systems, the fractal state of chromatin, the processes of domain formation, and looping out. Additionally, the strings and binders switch model reproduces the recently proposed "fractal-globule" model, but only as one of many possible transient conformations.Keywords
This publication has 37 references indexed in Scilit:
- Topological domains in mammalian genomes identified by analysis of chromatin interactionsNature, 2012
- Spatial partitioning of the regulatory landscape of the X-inactivation centreNature, 2012
- The fractal globule as a model of chromatin architecture in the cellChromosome Research, 2011
- Chromatin Higher-order Structure and DynamicsCold Spring Harbor Perspectives in Biology, 2010
- Comprehensive Mapping of Long-Range Interactions Reveals Folding Principles of the Human GenomeScience, 2009
- Thermodynamic Pathways to Genome Spatial Organization in the Cell NucleusBiophysical Journal, 2009
- Spatially confined folding of chromatin in the interphase nucleusProceedings of the National Academy of Sciences of the United States of America, 2009
- The 3D Structure of the Immunoglobulin Heavy-Chain Locus: Implications for Long-Range Genomic InteractionsCell, 2008
- Hotspots of transcription factor colocalization in the genome of Drosophila melanogasterProceedings of the National Academy of Sciences of the United States of America, 2006
- Folding and organization of a contiguous chromosome region according to the gene distribution pattern in primary genomic sequenceThe Journal of cell biology, 2006