Related papers: Protein-DNA Co-condensation is Prewetting to a Col…
We perform simulations of a system containing simple model proteins and a polymer representing chromatin. We study the interplay between protein-protein and protein-chromatin interactions, and the resulting condensates which arise due to…
Three-dimensional (3D) chromatin structure is closely related to genome function, in particular transcription. However, the folding path of the chromatin fiber in the interphase nucleus is unknown. Here, we systematically measured the 3D…
Increasing evidence suggests that chromosome folding and genetic expression are intimately connected. For example, the co-expression of a large number of genes can benefit from their spatial co-localization in the cellular space.…
Cells regulate gene expression in part by forming DNA-protein condensates in the nucleus. While existing theories describe the equilibrium size and stability of such condensates, their dynamics remain less understood. Here, we use…
By means of a minimal physical model, we investigate the interplay of two phase transitions at play in chromatin organization: (1) liquid-liquid phase separation (LLPS) within the fluid solvating chromatin, resulting in the formation of…
Fluorescence microscopy reveals that the contents of many (membrane-free) nuclear "bodies" exchange rapidly with the soluble pool whilst the underlying structure persists; such observations await a satisfactory biophysical explanation. To…
Current models for the folding of the human genome see a hierarchy stretching down from chromosome territories, through A/B compartments and TADs (topologically-associating domains), to contact domains stabilized by cohesin and CTCF.…
Cooperativity plays an important role in the action of proteins bound to DNA. A simple, mechanical mechanism for cooperativity, in the form of a tension-mediated interaction between proteins bound to DNA at two different locations is…
The phase-separation occurring in a system of mutually interacting proteins that can bind on specific sites of a chromatin fiber is here investigated. This is achieved by means of extensive Molecular Dynamics simulations of a simple polymer…
Chromatin is known to be organized into multiple domains of varying sizes and compaction. While these domains are often imagined as static structures, they are highly dynamic and show cell-to-cell variability. Since processes such as gene…
In living cells, proteins involved in specialized biochemical functions are often spatially organized within biomolecular condensates. Increasing evidence suggests that some of these condensates, including DNA repair condensates, emerge…
Chromatin is a complex of DNA, RNA and proteins whose primary function is to package genomic DNA into the tight confines of a cell nucleus. A fundamental repeating unit of chromatin is the nucleosome, an octamer of histone proteins around…
Structural changes in giant DNA induced by the addition of the flexible polymer PEG were examined by the method of single-DNA observation. In dilute DNA conditions, individual DNA assumes a compact state via a discrete coil-globule…
The folding structure of the DNA molecule combined with helper molecules, also referred to as the chromatin, is highly relevant for the functional properties of DNA. The chromatin structure is largely determined by the underlying primary…
The 3D organisation of the genome in interphase cells is not a randomly folded polymer. Rather, experiments show that chromosomes arrange into a network of 3D compartments that correlate with biological processes, such as transcription,…
The three dimensional structure of DNA in the nucleus (chromatin) plays an important role in many cellular processes. Recent experimental advances have led to high-throughput methods of capturing information about chromatin conformation on…
Genome organization in eukaryotes during interphase stems from the delicate balance between non-random correlations present in the DNA polynucleotide linear sequence and the physico/chemical reactions which shape continuously the form and…
Recent experimental and theoretical approaches have attempted to quantify the physical organization (compaction and geometry) of the bacterial chromosome with its complement of proteins (the nucleoid). The genomic DNA exists in a complex…
During the eukaryotic cell cycle, chromatin undergoes several conformational changes, which are believed to play key roles in gene expression regulation during interphase, and in genome replication and division during mitosis. In this…
Eukaryotic DNA is packaged into chromatin: one-dimensional arrays of nucleosomes separated by stretches of linker DNA are folded into 30-nm chromatin fibers which in turn form higher-order structures. Each nucleosome, the fundamental unit…