title: Polymer models of the hierarchical folding of the Hox-B chromosomal locus.
abstract: As revealed by novel technologies, chromosomes in the nucleus of mammalian cells have a complex spatial organization that serves vital functional purposes. Here we use models from polymer physics to identify the mechanisms that control their three-dimensional spatial organization. In particular, we investigate a model of the Hox-B locus, an important genomic region involved in embryo development, to expose the principles regulating chromatin folding and its complex behaviors in mouse embryonic stem cells. We reconstruct with high accuracy the pairwise contact matrix of the Hox-B locus as derived by Hi-C experiments and investigate its hierarchical folding dynamics. We trace back the observed behaviors to general scaling properties of polymer physics.
authors.affiliation: Dipartimento di Fisica, Universitá di Napoli Federico II, INFN Napoli, CNR, SPIN, Complesso Universitario di Monte Sant'Angelo, 80126 Naples, Italy.
authors.forename: Carlo
authors.initials: C
authors.lastname: Annunziatella
authors.affiliation: Dipartimento di Fisica, Universitá di Napoli Federico II, INFN Napoli, CNR, SPIN, Complesso Universitario di Monte Sant'Angelo, 80126 Naples, Italy.
authors.forename: Andrea M
authors.initials: AM
authors.lastname: Chiariello
authors.affiliation: Dipartimento di Fisica, Universitá di Napoli Federico II, INFN Napoli, CNR, SPIN, Complesso Universitario di Monte Sant'Angelo, 80126 Naples, Italy.
authors.forename: Simona
authors.initials: S
authors.lastname: Bianco
authors.affiliation: Dipartimento di Fisica, Universitá di Napoli Federico II, INFN Napoli, CNR, SPIN, Complesso Universitario di Monte Sant'Angelo, 80126 Naples, Italy.
authors.forename: Mario
authors.initials: M
authors.lastname: Nicodemi
mesh_terms: D000818:Animals; D002843:Chromatin / Q000737:chemistry / Q000378:metabolism; D002875:Chromosomes / Q000737:chemistry / Q000235:genetics / Q000378:metabolism*; D005801:Genes, Homeobox; D051379:Mice; D008958:Models, Molecular; D011108:Polymers / Q000737:chemistry*; D017510:Protein Folding
chemical_list: D002843:Chromatin; D011108:Polymers