3-D Genome Sequencing

March 6, 2010 · Posted in Tools of the Genome Trade 

By Hsien-Hsien Lei, PhD, HUGO Matters Editor

image for id B0006458Congratulations to to Erez Lieberman-Aiden, graduate student at the Harvard-MIT Division of Health Science and Technology, on winning the Lemelson-MIT Student Prize. One of his several impressive innovations is the Hi-C method for three-dimensional genome sequencing which Lieberman-Aiden likens to “MRI for genomes.”

From Medical News Today:

Mapping the Human Genome in 3-D
Lieberman-Aiden’s most recent invention is the "Hi-C" method for three-dimensional genome sequencing. It has been hailed as a revolutionary technology that will enable an entirely new understanding of cell state, genetic regulation and disease. Developed together with postdoctoral student Nynke van Berkum of UMass Medical School, and their advisors Eric Lander and Job Dekker, Hi-C makes it possible to create global, three-dimensional portraits of whole genomes as they fold. Three dimensional genome sequencing is a major advance in solving the mystery of how the human genome – which is two meters and three billion chemical letters long – fits into the tiny nucleus of a cell.

Applied to the human genome, the technology enabled Lieberman-Aiden, van Berkum and their team to make two significant discoveries. First, they found that the genome is organized into separate active and inactive compartments; chromosomes weave in and out of these compartments, turning the individual genes along their length on and off. When they examined this process more closely, they found evidence that the genome adapts into a never-before-seen state called a fractal globule. This allows cells to pack DNA extraordinarily tightly without knotting, and to easily access genes when the information they contain is needed.

Paper: Comprehensive Mapping of Long-Range Interactions Reveals Folding Principles of the Human Genome, Lieberman-Aiden E, et al., Science, 326:5950, 289-293, 9 October 2009

Image: Spirals of DNA molecules, Annie Cavanagh, Wellcome Images

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