Chromosome condensation

Histone deacetylation at the onset of mitosis induces a chromatin-intrinsic phase transition that endows chromosomes with the physical characteristics necessary for their precise movement during cell division.

This protocol combines in situ chromosome conformation capture with labeling of nascent DNA with the synthetic nucleoside 4-thio-thymidine to generate genome-wide contact probability maps within and across sister chromatids in mammalian cells.

Piazza et al. report that following double-strand break (DSB) formation in S. cerevisiae, cohesin at DSBs facilitates local homology search during repair by homologous recombination, while suppressing DSB contacts with genome-wide double-strand DNAs.

Zhang et al. identify a nuclear role for the glycolytic enzyme TPI1 in connecting nutrient status and cell cycle status to global histone acetylation.

Epigenetic information is transmitted from mother to daughter cells through mitosis. Here, the authors isolate native chromosomes from metaphase-arrested cells and perform LC-MS/MS to identify chromosome-bound proteins in pluripotent stem cells during mitosis and reveal that PRC2, DNA methylation and Mecp2 are required to maintain chromosome compaction.