Advances in Chromatin and Chromosome Research: Perspectives from Multiple Fields

Andrews Akwasi Agbleke; Assaf Amitai; Jason D Buenrostro; Aditi Chakrabarti; Lingluo Chu; Anders S Hansen; Kristen M Koenig; Ajay S Labade; Sirui Liu; Tadasu Nozaki; Sergey Ovchinnikov; Andrew Seeber; Haitham A Shaban; Jan-Hendrik Spille; Andrew D Stephens; Jun-Han Su; Dushan Wadduwage

doi:10.1016/j.molcel.2020.07.003

Advances in Chromatin and Chromosome Research: Perspectives from Multiple Fields

Mol Cell. 2020 Sep 17;79(6):881-901. doi: 10.1016/j.molcel.2020.07.003. Epub 2020 Aug 7.

Authors

Andrews Akwasi Agbleke¹, Assaf Amitai², Jason D Buenrostro³, Aditi Chakrabarti⁴, Lingluo Chu⁵, Anders S Hansen⁶, Kristen M Koenig⁷, Ajay S Labade³, Sirui Liu⁸, Tadasu Nozaki⁵, Sergey Ovchinnikov⁹, Andrew Seeber¹⁰, Haitham A Shaban¹¹, Jan-Hendrik Spille¹², Andrew D Stephens¹³, Jun-Han Su⁵, Dushan Wadduwage¹⁴

Affiliations

¹ Center for Advanced Imaging, Harvard University, Cambridge, MA 02138, USA.
² Institute for Medical Engineering and Science, Massachusetts Institute of Technology, Cambridge, MA 02139, USA.
³ Department of Stem Cell and Regenerative Biology, Harvard University, Cambridge, MA, USA.
⁴ John A. Paulson School of Engineering and Applied Sciences, Harvard University, Cambridge, MA 02138, USA.
⁵ Department of Molecular and Cellular Biology, Harvard University, Cambridge, MA 02138, USA.
⁶ Department of Biological Engineering, Massachusetts Institute of Technology, Cambridge, MA 02139, USA.
⁷ Department of Organismic and Evolutionary Biology, Harvard University, Cambridge, MA 02138, USA; JHDSF Program, Harvard University, Cambridge, MA 02138, USA.
⁸ FAS Division of Science, Harvard University, Cambridge, MA 02138, USA.
⁹ JHDSF Program, Harvard University, Cambridge, MA 02138, USA; FAS Division of Science, Harvard University, Cambridge, MA 02138, USA.
¹⁰ JHDSF Program, Harvard University, Cambridge, MA 02138, USA; Center for Advanced Imaging, Harvard University, Cambridge, MA 02138, USA. Electronic address: aseeber@fas.harvard.edu.
¹¹ Center for Advanced Imaging, Harvard University, Cambridge, MA 02138, USA; Spectroscopy Department, Physics Division, National Research Centre, Dokki, 12622 Cairo, Egypt.
¹² Department of Physics, University of Illinois at Chicago, Chicago, IL 60607, USA.
¹³ Biology Department, University of Massachusetts, Amherst, Amherst, MA 01003, USA.
¹⁴ JHDSF Program, Harvard University, Cambridge, MA 02138, USA; Center for Advanced Imaging, Harvard University, Cambridge, MA 02138, USA.

Abstract

Nucleosomes package genomic DNA into chromatin. By regulating DNA access for transcription, replication, DNA repair, and epigenetic modification, chromatin forms the nexus of most nuclear processes. In addition, dynamic organization of chromatin underlies both regulation of gene expression and evolution of chromosomes into individualized sister objects, which can segregate cleanly to different daughter cells at anaphase. This collaborative review shines a spotlight on technologies that will be crucial to interrogate key questions in chromatin and chromosome biology including state-of-the-art microscopy techniques, tools to physically manipulate chromatin, single-cell methods to measure chromatin accessibility, computational imaging with neural networks and analytical tools to interpret chromatin structure and dynamics. In addition, this review provides perspectives on how these tools can be applied to specific research fields such as genome stability and developmental biology and to test concepts such as phase separation of chromatin.

Publication types

Research Support, N.I.H., Extramural
Research Support, Non-U.S. Gov't
Review

MeSH terms

Chromatin / genetics*
Chromosomes / genetics*
DNA / genetics*
DNA Repair / genetics
DNA Replication / genetics
Epigenesis, Genetic / genetics
Humans
Nucleosomes / genetics*

Substances

Chromatin
Nucleosomes
DNA

Abstract

Publication types

MeSH terms

Substances

Grants and funding