Chromosome conformation capture techniques have revolutionized our understanding of chromatin architecture and dynamics at the genome-wide scale. In recent years, these methods have been applied to a diverse array of species, revealing fundamental principles of chromosomal organization. However, structural organization of the extrachromosomal entities, like viral genomes or plasmids, and their interactions with the host genome, remain relatively underexplored.
View Article and Find Full Text PDFTopologically associated domains (TADs) restrict promoter-enhancer interactions, thereby maintaining the spatiotemporal pattern of gene activity. However, rearrangements of the TADs boundaries do not always lead to significant changes in the activity pattern. Here, we investigated the consequences of the TAD boundaries deletion on the expression of developmentally important genes encoding tyrosine kinase receptors: Kit, Kdr, Pdgfra.
View Article and Find Full Text PDFStructural variations are a pervasive feature of human genomes, and there is growing recognition of their role in disease development through their impact on spatial chromatin architecture. This understanding has led us to investigate the clinical significance of CNVs in noncoding regions that influence TAD structures. In this study, we focused on the Epb41l4a locus, which contains a highly conserved TAD boundary present in both human chromosome 5 and mouse chromosome 18, and its association with neurodevelopmental phenotypes.
View Article and Find Full Text PDFAlterations of human karyotype caused by chromosomal rearrangements are often associated with considerable phenotypic effects. Studying molecular mechanisms underlying these effects requires an efficient and scalable experimental model. Here, we propose a Cre-LoxP-based approach for the generation of combinatorial diversity of chromosomal rearrangements.
View Article and Find Full Text PDFChromosomes are hierarchically folded within cell nuclei into territories, domains and subdomains, but the functional importance and evolutionary dynamics of these hierarchies are poorly defined. Here, we comprehensively profile genome organizations of five Anopheles mosquito species and show how different levels of chromatin architecture influence each other. Patterns observed on Hi-C maps are associated with known cytological structures, epigenetic profiles, and gene expression levels.
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