LivChrom: The Living Chromatin framework to investigate the functional compartmentalization of the genome – LivChrom

Eukaryotic DNA is wrapped around histone octamers forming the so-called chromatin fiber. Information on the genome activity is partly encoded by the local Chromatin State, characterized by various bichemical properties such as histone modifications. In nucleus, early observations revealed a non-random spatial organization of the genome with a large-scale segregation between transcriptionally active -euchromatin- and silenced -heterochromatin- parts of the genome. However, despite their importance, the regulation of these chromatin states 3D compartments and how they achieve their function, remain largely elusive. Our objectives are to develop a quantitative, generic computational 3D model of chromatin state regulation, to contextualize it to the regulation of facultative heterochromatin during development, an outstanding problem in 3D epigenomics, to infer parameters from experimental data and to confront predictions to dedicated new experiments.