From Hi-C Contact Map to Three-Dimensional Organization of Interphase Human Chromosomes

The probability of two loci, separated by a certain genome length, being in contact can be inferred using the chromosome conformation capture (3C) method and related Hi-C experiments. How to go from the contact map, a matrix listing the mean contact probabilities between a large number of pairs of l...

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Autores principales: Guang Shi, D. Thirumalai
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Publicado: American Physical Society 2021
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spelling oai:doaj.org-article:8ba8e8f50f624b8bb717f904f5bddc542021-12-02T11:37:42ZFrom Hi-C Contact Map to Three-Dimensional Organization of Interphase Human Chromosomes10.1103/PhysRevX.11.0110512160-3308https://doaj.org/article/8ba8e8f50f624b8bb717f904f5bddc542021-03-01T00:00:00Zhttp://doi.org/10.1103/PhysRevX.11.011051http://doi.org/10.1103/PhysRevX.11.011051https://doaj.org/toc/2160-3308The probability of two loci, separated by a certain genome length, being in contact can be inferred using the chromosome conformation capture (3C) method and related Hi-C experiments. How to go from the contact map, a matrix listing the mean contact probabilities between a large number of pairs of loci, to an ensemble of three-dimensional structures is an open problem. A solution to this problem, without assuming an assumed energy function, would be the first step in understanding the way nature has solved the packaging of chromosomes in tight cellular spaces. We created a theory, based on polymer physics characteristics of chromosomes and the maximum entropy principles, referred to as HIPPS (Hi-C-polymer-physics-structures) method, that allows us to calculate the 3D structures solely from Hi-C contact maps. The first step in the HIPPS method is to relate the mean contact probability (⟨p_{ij}⟩) between loci i and j and the average spatial distance ⟨r[over ¯]_{ij}⟩. This is a difficult problem to solve because the cell population is heterogeneous, which means that a given contact exists only in a small unknown fraction of cells. Despite the population heterogeneity, we first prove that there is a theoretical lower bound connecting ⟨p_{ij}⟩ and ⟨r[over ¯]_{ij}⟩ via a power-law relation. We show, using simulations of a precisely solvable model, that the overall organization is accurately captured by constructing the distance map from the contact map even if the cell population is highly heterogeneous, thus justifying the use of the lower bound. In the second step, the mean distance matrix, with elements ⟨r[over ¯]_{ij}⟩′s, is used as a constraint in the maximum entropy principle to obtain the joint distribution of spatial positions of the loci. Using the two steps, we created an ensemble of 3D structures for the 23 chromosomes from lymphoblastoid cells using the measured contact maps as inputs. The HIPPS method shows that conformations of chromosomes are heterogeneous even in a single cell type. The differences in the conformational heterogeneity of the same chromosome in different cell types (normal as well as cancerous cells) can also be quantitatively discerned using our theory. We validate the method by showing that the calculated volumes of the 23 chromosomes from the predicted 3D structures are in good agreement with experimental estimates. Because the method is general, the 3D structures for any species may be calculated directly from the contact map without the need to assume a specific polymer model, as is customarily done.Guang ShiD. ThirumalaiAmerican Physical SocietyarticlePhysicsQC1-999ENPhysical Review X, Vol 11, Iss 1, p 011051 (2021)
institution DOAJ
collection DOAJ
language EN
topic Physics
QC1-999
spellingShingle Physics
QC1-999
Guang Shi
D. Thirumalai
From Hi-C Contact Map to Three-Dimensional Organization of Interphase Human Chromosomes
description The probability of two loci, separated by a certain genome length, being in contact can be inferred using the chromosome conformation capture (3C) method and related Hi-C experiments. How to go from the contact map, a matrix listing the mean contact probabilities between a large number of pairs of loci, to an ensemble of three-dimensional structures is an open problem. A solution to this problem, without assuming an assumed energy function, would be the first step in understanding the way nature has solved the packaging of chromosomes in tight cellular spaces. We created a theory, based on polymer physics characteristics of chromosomes and the maximum entropy principles, referred to as HIPPS (Hi-C-polymer-physics-structures) method, that allows us to calculate the 3D structures solely from Hi-C contact maps. The first step in the HIPPS method is to relate the mean contact probability (⟨p_{ij}⟩) between loci i and j and the average spatial distance ⟨r[over ¯]_{ij}⟩. This is a difficult problem to solve because the cell population is heterogeneous, which means that a given contact exists only in a small unknown fraction of cells. Despite the population heterogeneity, we first prove that there is a theoretical lower bound connecting ⟨p_{ij}⟩ and ⟨r[over ¯]_{ij}⟩ via a power-law relation. We show, using simulations of a precisely solvable model, that the overall organization is accurately captured by constructing the distance map from the contact map even if the cell population is highly heterogeneous, thus justifying the use of the lower bound. In the second step, the mean distance matrix, with elements ⟨r[over ¯]_{ij}⟩′s, is used as a constraint in the maximum entropy principle to obtain the joint distribution of spatial positions of the loci. Using the two steps, we created an ensemble of 3D structures for the 23 chromosomes from lymphoblastoid cells using the measured contact maps as inputs. The HIPPS method shows that conformations of chromosomes are heterogeneous even in a single cell type. The differences in the conformational heterogeneity of the same chromosome in different cell types (normal as well as cancerous cells) can also be quantitatively discerned using our theory. We validate the method by showing that the calculated volumes of the 23 chromosomes from the predicted 3D structures are in good agreement with experimental estimates. Because the method is general, the 3D structures for any species may be calculated directly from the contact map without the need to assume a specific polymer model, as is customarily done.
format article
author Guang Shi
D. Thirumalai
author_facet Guang Shi
D. Thirumalai
author_sort Guang Shi
title From Hi-C Contact Map to Three-Dimensional Organization of Interphase Human Chromosomes
title_short From Hi-C Contact Map to Three-Dimensional Organization of Interphase Human Chromosomes
title_full From Hi-C Contact Map to Three-Dimensional Organization of Interphase Human Chromosomes
title_fullStr From Hi-C Contact Map to Three-Dimensional Organization of Interphase Human Chromosomes
title_full_unstemmed From Hi-C Contact Map to Three-Dimensional Organization of Interphase Human Chromosomes
title_sort from hi-c contact map to three-dimensional organization of interphase human chromosomes
publisher American Physical Society
publishDate 2021
url https://doaj.org/article/8ba8e8f50f624b8bb717f904f5bddc54
work_keys_str_mv AT guangshi fromhiccontactmaptothreedimensionalorganizationofinterphasehumanchromosomes
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