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Chromosomes are tall, narrow, mostly X-shaped forms. This is what is taught at the school level of biology and chemistry.
However, a team of researchers from Xiaowei Zhang’s lab at Harvard University revealed that it is by no means an accurate representation. “90 percent of the time, chromosomes don’t exist like this,” said Jun-Han Su, former Harvard University and part of the project.
Using 3D imaging, the team showed what the different chromosomes actually look like.
The team’s findings were published in the journal Cell in August.
How the team performed chromosomal imaging
Zooming in enough to see the chromatin structure is not an easy task.
The team captured the essence of chromosomes thanks to a high-resolution 3D imaging system, which put together 46 wide-angle snapshots of chromosomes and close-ups of a chromosome. Then, the team snapped genomic loci along each of the DNA chains, such as Science noticerelationships.
The team connected the dots and formed a complete picture of the chromatin structure.
“We now actually have 60 loci simultaneously captured and located and, importantly, identified,” explained senior researcher Xiaowei Zhuang of Harvard University.
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“It is very important to determine the 3D organization”, She said Zhuang, “to understand the molecular mechanisms underlying the organization and also to understand how this organization regulates the function of the genome”.
A 3D Google Maps of the genome
To cover the entire genome, however, the team used thousands of images and turned to a language already used to organize and store large amounts of information: binary.
Essentially, the team created a 3D Google Maps of the genome, which then allowed them to start analyzing changes in the structure over time. EurekAlertrelationships.
The study is not finished, however, as Zhuang said “It will not be possible to build on our work alone. We have to rely on the work of many, many labs to have a complete understanding. “
The team shared their data on GitHub, so other researchers can take a look and take the analysis further.
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