title: Topological constraints and chromosome organization in eukaryotes: a physical point of view.
abstract: New experimental tools capable of probing the three-dimensional organization of eukaryotic genomes with an unprecedented level of detail have been developed in the last few years. In the quest for a quantitative understanding of experimental results, several polymer models for chromatin organization were introduced and critically evaluated. In the present article, I give a brief introduction to the physical basis of chromosome organization, and recall the experimental evidence in favour of the importance of topological constraints for the description of chromosome conformations in eukaryotes.
authors.affiliation: SISSA - Scuola Internazionale Superiore di Studi Avanzati, Via Bonomea 265, 34136 Trieste, Italy. anrosa@sissa.it
authors.forename: Angelo
authors.initials: A
authors.lastname: Rosa
mesh_terms: D000818:Animals; D001704:Biopolymers / Q000737:chemistry; D002875:Chromosomes / Q000737:chemistry*; D056890:Eukaryota / Q000378:metabolism*; D006801:Humans; D008958:Models, Molecular; D009690:Nucleic Acid Conformation
chemical_list: D001704:Biopolymers