Dixon Jesse R, Gorkin David U, Ren Bing
Peptide Biology Lab and the Helmsley Center for Genomic Medicine, Salk Institute for Biological Studies, 10010 North Torrey Pines Road, La Jolla, CA 92037, USA.
Ludwig Institute for Cancer Research, 9500 Gilman Drive, La Jolla, CA 92093-0653, USA.
Mol Cell. 2016 Jun 2;62(5):668-80. doi: 10.1016/j.molcel.2016.05.018.
How eukaryotic chromosomes fold inside the nucleus is an age-old question that remains unanswered today. Early biochemical and microscopic studies revealed the existence of chromatin domains and loops as a pervasive feature of interphase chromosomes, but the biological implications of such organizational features were obscure. Genome-wide analysis of pair-wise chromatin interactions using chromatin conformation capture (3C)-based techniques has shed new light on the organization of chromosomes in interphase nuclei. Particularly, the finding of cell-type invariant, evolutionarily conserved topologically associating domains (TADs) in a broad spectrum of cell types has provided a new molecular framework for the study of animal development and human diseases. Here, we review recent progress in characterization of such chromatin domains and delineation of mechanisms of their formation in animal cells.
真核生物染色体在细胞核内如何折叠是一个由来已久的问题，至今仍未得到解答。早期的生物化学和显微镜研究揭示了染色质结构域和环的存在，这是间期染色体的一个普遍特征，但这种组织特征的生物学意义尚不清楚。使用基于染色质构象捕获（3C）技术对成对染色质相互作用进行全基因组分析，为间期细胞核中染色体的组织提供了新的线索。特别是，在广泛的细胞类型中发现细胞类型不变、进化保守的拓扑相关结构域（TADs），为研究动物发育和人类疾病提供了一个新的分子框架。在这里，我们综述了在动物细胞中此类染色质结构域的表征及其形成机制的描绘方面的最新进展。
