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CHROMATIN

Liquid–liquid phase separation is an intrinsic physicochemical property of chromatin

Nature Structural & Molecular Biology volume 26, pages 1085–1086 (2019)Cite this article

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Chromatin is compartmentalized spatially and temporally at multiple levels, but the precise organization of chromatin and mechanisms underlying its restructuring remain unclear. Two studies published in Cell and Nature now demonstrate the ability of chromatin to undergo liquid–liquid phase separation under physiological conditions and show that this intrinsic physicochemical property of chromatin can be regulated.

The eukaryotic cell nucleus is only 6–10 μm in diameter, but it contains many large biomolecules, including genomic DNA, which if stretched out would measure ~2 m in length. Numerous processes required for cell growth and survival, such as gene transcription and DNA replication, recombination and repair, take place within this tiny organelle. How are the vital DNA-templated processes regulated in this crowded compartment? Chromatin is known to form dynamically organized subdomains, yet how the nuclear subdomains are restructured to allow precise targeting of specific chromatin sites by various chromatin-binding factors is not well understood. Two studies now demonstrate that reconstituted chromatin has the ability to form liquid- or gel-like droplets and that this previously unrecognized intrinsic property of chromatin can be further modulated by regulatory factors1,2.

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Fig. 1: Chromatin has an intrinsic ability to undergo phase separation.

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  1. Department of Pharmacology, University of Colorado School of Medicine, Aurora, CO, USA

    Yi Zhang & Tatiana G. Kutateladze

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  1. Yi Zhang
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  2. Tatiana G. Kutateladze
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Correspondence to Tatiana G. Kutateladze.

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Zhang, Y., Kutateladze, T.G. Liquid–liquid phase separation is an intrinsic physicochemical property of chromatin. Nat Struct Mol Biol 26, 1085–1086 (2019). https://doi.org/10.1038/s41594-019-0333-8

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