The Role of Chromatin Density in Cell Population Heterogeneity during Stem Cell Differentiation. Issue 1 (December 2017)

• Record Type: Journal Article
• Authors: Golkaram, Mahdi; Jang, Jiwon; Hellander, Stefan; Kosik, Kenneth; Petzold, Linda
• Is Part Of: Scientific reports. Volume 7:Issue 1(2017)
• Page Start: 1
• Page End: 11
• Publication Date: 2017-12
• Subjects: Natural history -- Research -- Periodicals; Biology -- Research -- Periodicals; Physical sciences -- Research -- Periodicals; Earth sciences -- Research -- Periodicals; Environmental sciences -- Research -- Periodicals; 502.85
• DOI: 10.1038/s41598-017-13731-3
• Languages: English
• ISSNs: 2045-2322

Abstract

Abstract We incorporate three-dimensional (3D) conformation of chromosome (Hi-C) and single-cell RNA sequencing data together with discrete stochastic simulation, to explore the role of chromatin reorganization in determining gene expression heterogeneity during development. While previous research has emphasized the importance of chromatin architecture on activation and suppression of certain regulatory genes and gene networks, our study demonstrates how chromatin remodeling can dictate gene expression distribution by folding into distinct topological domains. We hypothesize that the local DNA density during differentiation accentuate transcriptional bursting due to the crowding effect of chromatin. This phenomenon yields a heterogeneous cell population, thereby increasing the potential of differentiation of the stem cells.