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Researchers have long realized the importance of DNA’s precisely arranged structure. But only recently have new technologies made it possible to explore this architecture deeply. With simulations, indirect measurements and better imaging, scientists hope to reveal more about how the nucleome’s intricate folds regulate healthy cells. Better views will also help scientists understand the role that disrupted nucleomes play in aging and diseases, such as progeria and cancer.
“It is conceivable that every nuclear process has an element of structure in it,” says molecular geneticist Bing Ren of the University of California, San Diego School of Medicine. “It’s surprising, in fact, that we studied DNA for so long and yet we still have relatively little understanding of its 3-D architecture.”
Make that 4-D. Recent work shows that fully understanding the nucleome requires analysis of its rearrangements in space over time. A cell’s nucleome changes during the course of a single day as the cell responds to its environment.
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In 2014, the National Institutes of Health launched a five-year, 4-D Nucleome program, committing more than $120 million to identify better tools and techniques for mapping the complexities of the genome’s 4-D structure. Geneticists, molecular biologists, mathematicians, biophysicists and others are now on an ambitious quest to chart the ever-shifting nuclear terrain.
Read full, original post: The human genome takes shape and shifts over time
