Cited by 6,829Genomics and Chromatin DynamicsChromosomal and Genetic VariationsChromatin Remodeling and Cancer

Topological domains in mammalian genomes identified by analysis of chromatin interactions

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Dixon, Jesse R., Selvaraj, Siddarth, Yue, Feng, Kim, Audrey, Li, Yan, Shen, Yin, Hu, Ming, Liu, Jun S. +1 more·2012·Nature

Abstract

The spatial organization of the genome is intimately linked to its biological function, yet our understanding of higher order genomic structure is coarse, fragmented and incomplete. In the nucleus of eukaryotic cells, interphase chromosomes occupy distinct chromosome territories, and numerous models have been proposed for how chromosomes fold within chromosome territories. These models, however, provide only few mechanistic details about the relationship between higher order chromatin structure and genome function. Recent advances in genomic technologies have led to rapid advances in the study of three-dimensional genome organization. In particular, Hi-C has been introduced as a method for identifying higher order chromatin interactions genome wide. Here we investigate the three-dimensional organization of the human and mouse genomes in embryonic stem cells and terminally differentiated cell types at unprecedented resolution. We identify large, megabase-sized local chromatin interaction domains, which we term 'topological domains', as a pervasive structural feature of the genome organization. These domains correlate with regions of the genome that constrain the spread of heterochromatin. The domains are stable across different cell types and highly conserved across species, indicating that topological domains are an inherent property of mammalian genomes. Finally, we find that the boundaries of topological domains are enriched for the insulator binding protein CTCF, housekeeping genes, transfer RNAs and short interspersed element (SINE) retrotransposons, indicating that these factors may have a role in establishing the topological domain structure of the genome.

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  • Eukaryotic chromosomes are partitioned into topologically associated domains (TADs).

    “Second, it was demonstrated that eukaryotic chromosomes are partitioned into so-called topologically associated domains (TADs) [35,36,37], which appear to restrict the areas of enhancer action [38,39,40,41].”

    From Enhancer Function in the 3D Genome (2023) · cites this paper as [36]

    The Abstract reports topological domains as a pervasive feature of the human and mouse genomes and notes similar partitioning in Drosophila. It suggests this may be a fundamental principle of metazoan genomes, but does not establish the claim for eukaryotic chromosomes generally. (LLM, conf=0.85)

    Experimental — accuracy not yet measured
  • Metazoan genomes are organised into megabase-scale segregated domains that are often invariant between cell types, termed TADs.

    “metazoan genomes are organised into megabase-scale segregated domains that are often invariant between cell types, termed topologically associating domains (TADs) [432–434].”
  • Loop extrusion mediated by cohesin and CTCF mediates the formation of chromatin loops and self-interacting TADs.

    “loop extrusion mediated by cohesin and CTCF mediates the formation of chromatin loops and self-interacting Topologically Associating Domains (TADs)”
  • The mouse α-globin cluster is located in close proximity to a cluster of 10 widely expressed genes near the boundary of a ~1Mb TAD as defined by Dixon et al.

    “The mouse α-globin cluster is located in close proximity to a cluster of 10 widely expressed genes near the boundary of a ~1Mb TAD as defined by Dixon et al (Fig. 1A)12.”
  • Mammalian genomes are organized into a hierarchy of Megabase-scale topologically associating domains (TADs) and smaller, nested subTADs.

    “Mammalian genomes are organized into a hierarchy of Megabase (Mb)-scale topologically associating domains (TADs) (Dixon et al., 2012; Nora et al., 2012) and smaller, nested subTADs (Dixon et al., 2012; Nora et al., 2012; Phillips-Cremins et al., 2013; Rao et al., 2014).”

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Authors
Dixon, J. R., Selvaraj, S., Yue, F., Kim, A., Li, Y., Shen, Y., Hu, M., Liu, J. S., & Ren, B.
Affiliations
  • Ludwig Cancer Research (BE)
  • Harvard University (US)
Corresponding author
Ren, Bing
Venue
Nature
Published
2012-04-11
Volume
485
Issue
7398
Pages
376-380
ISSN
  • 0028-0836 (ISSN-L)
  • 1476-4687
OpenAlex
W2070021921
Cited by
6,829
References
33
Citations by year
2026: 356 · 2025: 432 · 2024: 550 · 2023: 544 · 2022: 567 · 2021: 690 · 2020: 661 · 2019: 629 · 2018: 568 · 2017: 524 · 2016: 423 · 2015: 351 · 2014: 237 · 2013: 220 · 2012: 66
FWCI
112.45
Type
journal article
Language
en
Open access
Locations
  • Nature (publishedVersion)
  • PubMed (publishedVersion)
  • PubMed Central (acceptedVersion)
  • Digital Access to Scholarship at Harvard (DASH) (Harvard University) (submittedVersion, cc-by)
  • RePEc: Research Papers in Economics (submittedVersion)
  • eScholarship (California Digital Library) (submittedVersion)
Funders
  • Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (R01GH003991)
  • National Human Genome Research Institute (R01HG003991)
Topics
  • Life Sciences › Biochemistry, Genetics and Molecular Biology › Molecular Biology › Genomics and Chromatin Dynamics
  • Life Sciences › Agricultural and Biological Sciences › Plant Science › Chromosomal and Genetic Variations
  • Life Sciences › Biochemistry, Genetics and Molecular Biology › Molecular Biology › Chromatin Remodeling and Cancer
Keywords
topological domains, 3D genome organization, chromatin interactions, topologically associating domains, Hi-C, 5C, mouse X chromosome, X inactivation center, CTCF, heterochromatin, chromosome territories, embryonic stem cells, SINE retrotransposons
MeSH terms
CCCTC-Binding Factor, Animals, Binding Sites, Cell Differentiation, Chromatin, Chromosomes, Female, Heterochromatin, Humans, Male, Mammals, Repressor Proteins, RNA, Transfer, Genome, Evolution, Molecular, Genes, Essential, Short Interspersed Nucleotide Elements, Mice, Embryonic Stem Cells

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