From a melt of rings to chromosome territories: the role of topological constraints in genome folding

We review pro and contra of the hypothesis that generic polymer properties of topological constraints are behind many aspects of chromatin folding in eukaryotic cells. For that purpose, we review, first, recent theoretical and computational findings in polymer physics related to concentrated, topolo...

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Bibliographic Details
Published in:Reports on progress in physics 2014-02, Vol.77 (2), p.022601-24
Main Authors: Halverson, Jonathan D, Smrek, Jan, Kremer, Kurt, Grosberg, Alexander Y
Format: Article
Language:English
Subjects:
Animals
biological physics
Biophysical Phenomena
Biopolymers - chemistry
Biopolymers - genetics
Biopolymers - metabolism
Chains (polymeric)
chromatin
Chromosomes
Chromosomes - genetics
Chromosomes - metabolism
DNA
Folding
Genome
genome folding
Genomes
Humans
Melts
Models, Biological
Molecular Conformation
Polymer physics
protein folding
Sheds
Topology
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Summary:We review pro and contra of the hypothesis that generic polymer properties of topological constraints are behind many aspects of chromatin folding in eukaryotic cells. For that purpose, we review, first, recent theoretical and computational findings in polymer physics related to concentrated, topologically simple (unknotted and unlinked) chains or a system of chains. Second, we review recent experimental discoveries related to genome folding. Understanding in these fields is far from complete, but we show how looking at them in parallel sheds new light on both.
ISSN:0034-4885
1361-6633
DOI:10.1088/0034-4885/77/2/022601