Job Dekker- Mechanisms of Chromosome Folding

Job Dekker- Mechanisms of Chromosome Folding Chromosomes are intricately folded to facilitate accurate gene expression, DNA replication, and chromosome compaction and segregation as cells divide. I will first briefly introduce the current understanding of how mammalian chromosomes fold, focusing on the two known mechanisms that are currently widely studied: spatial segregation of eu- and heterochromatin through biophysical phase separation, and chromatin loop formation through loop extrusion by molecular motors such as cohesin and condensin complexes. I will then focus on how activity and interplay among multiple loop extruding complexes fold chromosomes, using mitotic chromosome formation as example. Next, I will address the question how cell type-specific interphase chromosome folding is inherited through mitosis. I will present evidence that interphase chromosome conformation is specified by distinct folding programs inherited via mitotic chromosomes or through the cytoplasm. About Job Dekker Job Dekker received his undergraduate and graduate training at Utrecht University in The Netherlands. As a post-doctoral fellow in the laboratory of Nancy Kleckner at Harvard University, he developed chromosome conformation capture methodology. He is currently an Investigator of the Howard Hughes Medical Institute and Professor in the Department of Systems Biology at the University of Massachusetts Chan Medical School. His laboratory studies how genomes are folded in three dimensions. His work has led to insights into the formation of chromatin loops involved in long-range gene regulation, the organization of the interphase nucleus, the structure of metaphase chromosomes, and general folding principles of genomes. His group pioneered the use of genome folding data for genome assembly. His lab explores chromosome folding mechanisms in organisms with unusual genome organizations, such as dinoflagellates.