Kaplan, N. | Search bioRxiv

bioRxiv2018

Three invariant Hi-C interaction patterns: applications to genome assembly

Assembly of reference-quality genomes from next-generation sequencing data is a key challenge in genomics. Recently, we and others have shown that Hi-C data can be used to address several outstanding challenges in the field of genome assembly. This principle has since been developed in academia and industry, and has been used in the assembly of several major genomes. In this paper, we explore the central principles underlying Hi-C-based assembly approaches, by quantitatively defining and characterizing three invariant Hi-C interaction patterns on which these approaches can build: Intrachromosomal interaction enrichment, distance-dependent interaction decay and local interaction smoothness. Specifically, we evaluate to what degree each invariant pattern holds on a single locus level in different species, cell types and Hi-C map resolutions. We find that these patterns are generally consistent across species and cell types but are affected by sequencing depth, and that matrix balancing improves consistency of loci with all three invariant patterns. Finally, we overview current Hi-C-based assembly approaches in light of these invariant patterns and demonstrate how local interaction smoothness can be used to easily detect scaffolding errors in extremely sparse Hi-C maps. We suggest that simultaneously considering all three invariant patterns may lead to better Hi-C-based genome assembly methods.

genomics↗

bioRxiv2017

Study of the mitotic chromatin shows involvement of histone modifications in bookmarking and reveals nucleosome deposition patterns

Mitosis encompasses key molecular changes including chromatin condensation, nuclear envelope breakdown, and reduced transcription levels. Immediately after mitosis, the interphase chromatin structure is reestablished and transcription resumes. The reestablishment of the interphase chromatin is probably achieved by bookmarking, i.e., the retention of at least partial information during mitosis. Yet, while recent studies demonstrate that chromatin accessibility is generally preserved during mitosis and is only locally modulated, the exact details of the bookmarking process and its components are still unclear. To gain a deeper understanding of the mitotic bookmarking process, we merged proteomics, immunofluorescence, and ChIP-seq approaches to study the mitotic and interphase genomic organization of human cells. We focused on key histone modifications and employed HeLa-S3 cells as a model system. Generally, we observed a global concordance between the genomic organization of histone modifications in interphase and mitosis, yet the abundance of the two types of modifications we investigated was different. Whereas histone methylation patterns remain highly similar, histone acetylation patterns show a general reduction while maintaining their genomic organization. These results demonstrate that the epigenomic landscape can serve as a major component of the mitotic bookmarking process. Next, to further investigate mitosis-associated chromatin changes, we followed up on previous studies that showed that nucleosome depleted regions (NDRs) become occupied by a nucleosome during mitosis. Surprisingly, we observed that the nucleosome introduced into the NDR during mitosis encompasses a distinctive set of histone modifications, differentiating it from the surrounding nucleosomes. We show that the nucleosomes near the NDR appear to both shift into the NDR during mitosis and adopt a unique modification pattern. HDAC inhibition by the small molecule TSA reverts this pattern. These results provide evidence for a mitotic deposition and change in the modifications of the nucleosomes surrounding the NDR. Altogether, by merging multiple approaches, our study provides evidence to support a model where mitotic bookmarking is achieved by histone modifications and uncovers new insights into the deposition of nucleosomes during mitosis.

genomics↗