AUTHOR=Pongubala Jagan M. R. , Murre Cornelis 

TITLE=Spatial Organization of Chromatin: Transcriptional Control of Adaptive Immune Cell Development

JOURNAL=Frontiers in Immunology

VOLUME=Volume 12 - 2021

YEAR=2021

URL=https://www.frontiersin.org/journals/immunology/articles/10.3389/fimmu.2021.633825

DOI=10.3389/fimmu.2021.633825

ISSN=1664-3224

ABSTRACT=Higher-order spatial organization of the genome into chromatin compartments (permissive and
repressive), self-associating domains (TADs), and regulatory loops provide structural integrity
and offer diverse gene regulatory controls. In particular, the chromatin regulatory loops, which
bring enhancer and associated transcription factors in close spatial proximity to target gene
promoters, play essential roles in regulating gene targets and non-protein-coding regulatory
elements. The establishment and maintenance of such chromatin loops are predominantly
mediated through key architectural factors including CTCF and the cohesin machinery. In
recent years, significant progress has been made in revealing how loops are assembled and
how they modulate patterns of gene expression. Here we will discuss the mechanistic principles
that underpin the establishment of three-dimensional (3D) chromatin structure and how
changes in chromatin topology relate to alterations in gene programs that establish immune
cell fate.