A new study co-authored by IE Research Datalab researcher Nacho Molina reveals that the genome’s three-dimensional organization is more diverse than previously visible from standard population-level measurements.
Published in Nature Structural & Molecular Biology, the article uses single-molecule chromatin tracing to look at chromosome folding one molecule at a time. This approach allows researchers to detect structures that can disappear when thousands of cells are averaged together.
The team studied heterochromatin, a tightly packed form of DNA that plays an important role in gene regulation and genome stability. Rather than finding a single uniform architecture, the study identifies several types of large-scale domains, including condensin-dependent TAD-like structures, condensin-independent domains and more diffuse configurations that may be missed by other techniques.
For a broad audience, the result is a reminder that the genome is not just a linear sequence of letters: it is also a dynamic physical object, folding in ways that help cells regulate when and how genes are used. By revealing hidden diversity in these 3D structures, the work opens new questions about how genome architecture is established during early development.