Seminar: Super-resolution imaging of chromatin organization

Abstract

Nucleosomes help structure chromosomes by compacting DNA into fibers.  Chromatin organization plays an important role for regulating gene expression. However, due to the highly crowded nuclear environment and the nanometer length scales of chromatin fibers, it has been very difficult to visualize chromatin in vivo. The speaker will discuss how this challenge has been overcome by developing highly quantitative and multiplexed super-resolution microscopy methods that allow not only for the visualization of chromatin with nanoscale spatial and kilobase genomic resolution, but also for the number of nucleosomes along the chromatin fiber to be counted. Results reveal a new paradigm of chromatin compaction in the form of heterogeneous groups of nucleosomes, which are termed 'nucleosome clutches', in analogy to egg clutches. Further, it will be shown that the nanoscale chromatin organization is highly cell specific and correlates with the level of cell pluripotency. Overall, results reveal new insights into the intimate link between chromatin structure and gene activity.

About the speaker

Coming soon.

Hosted by Professor Carlos Castro.