Three-dimensional folding and functional organization principles of the Drosophila genome

Chromosomes are the physical realization of genetic information and thus form the basis for its reading, hindering and propagation. Here we present a high-resolution chromosomal contact map derived from a new genome-wide chromosome conformation capture approach (a simplified version of the Hi-C method) applied to Drosophila embryonic nuclei. The data show that the entire genome is linearly partitioned into well-demarcated physical domains that overlap extensively with active and repressive epigenetic marks. Chromosomal contacts are hierarchically organized between domains. Global modeling of compaction and clustering of domains show that inactive domains are condensed and confined to their chromosomal territories, while active domains reach out of the territory to form remote intra- and inter-chromosomal contacts. One pilot sample, comprising seven paired-end Illumina GA-II lanes; one deep-sequenced sample, comprising seven paired-end Illumina HiSeq lanes