Network analysis identifies chromosome intermingling regions as regulatory hotspots for transcription

Abstract

We develop a network analysis approach for identifying clusters of interactions between chromosomes, which we validate experimentally. Our method integrates 1D features of the genome, such as epigenetic marks, with 3D interactions, allowing us to study spatially colocalized regions between chromosomes that are functionally relevant. We observe that clusters of interchromosomal regions fall into active and inactive categories. We find that active clusters share transcription factors and are enriched for transcriptional machinery, suggesting that chromosome intermingling regions play a key role in genome regulation. Our method provides a unique quantitative framework that can be broadly applied to study the principles of genome organization and regulation during processes such as cell differentiation and reprogramming.

Document Details

Document Type
Pub Defense Publication
Publication Date
Dec 11, 2017
Source ID
10.1073/pnas.1708028115

Entities

People

  • Anastasiya Belyaeva
  • Caroline Uhler
  • G V Shivashankar
  • Mallika Nagarajan
  • Saradha Venkatachalapathy

Organizations

  • Division of Graduate Education
  • Massachusetts Institute of Technology
  • Mechanobiology Institute, Singapore
  • Ministry of Education
  • National Institutes of Health
  • National Science Foundation Division of Mathematical Sciences
  • Office of Naval Research Global

Tags

Fields of Study

  • Biology

Readers

  • Molecular and genetic basis of cancer.
  • Neural Network Machine Learning.
  • Systems Analysis and Design