A cura di
Prof.Mario Nicodemi(Università di Napoli "Federico II")
→
Europe/Rome
0M04 (Dipartimento di Fisica)
0M04
Dipartimento di Fisica
Descrizione
I review the picture emerging from models of polymer physics of the spatial organisation of chromosomes in the cell nucleus, as revealed by new experimental advancements. Chromosomes are arranged in a complex three-dimensional architecture serving vital functional purposes. One of the key open challenges concerns the understanding of the structure and the origin of the observed patterns, the molecular factors that shape them and how they are regulated. All these issues have conceptual and practical implications as, for example, many types of cancer are related to chromosome incorrect folding. The availability of data with increasing levels of details has triggered the need to develop quantitative models from physics, to provide a first picture of the basic principles and molecular mechanisms of chromosome folding, and to guide the design of targeted experiments, hopefully advancing also our understanding of related diseases.
