Genomics and Chromatin Dynamics

DNA in the cell nucleus is not a loose strand but a tightly folded structure called chromatin, where the double helix wraps around protein spools called histones and is further compacted into loops and compartments that span the three-dimensional space of the nucleus. Chemical modifications to those histones, along with regulatory sequences called enhancers scattered across the genome, act as a molecular control system that determines which genes a cell reads and when — without altering the underlying DNA sequence itself, a layer of regulation known as epigenetics. Researchers in this area are working to decode how the physical folding of the genome and these chemical signals are coordinated in real time, and how disruptions to that coordination drive diseases ranging from cancer to developmental disorders. Central open questions include how distant enhancers reliably find and activate their target genes across vast genomic distances, and how cells faithfully transmit epigenetic states through cell division.

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Keywords

ChromatinTranscriptionHistone ModificationsEpigeneticsGene RegulationEnhancers