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DNA of the human genome is two meters long and is folded inside a cell nucleus, which is just 5 microns in diameter. Revealing genome organization in 3D and understanding physical principles that govern its folding constitute the Genome Folding Problem. Recently developed Chromosome Conformation Capture technique, Hi-C, provides comprehensive information about spatial genome organization. Our analysis of these data and polymer simulations suggest that the genome is folded into a non-equilibrium polymer state, called the fractal globule. Yeast genome, on the contrary, resembles an equilibrium polymer brush. I will discuss intriguing properties of these polymer states and other major features of the human and yeast genome organization.

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Leonid Mirny, Institute for Medical Engineering and Science, and Department of Physics, MIT
Seminar Room 1st Physical Institute
Contact: not specified