Evidence map›Paper›PMID 32620890›Full record

ArticleNature communications2020

Polymer physics indicates chromatin folding variability across single-cells results from state degeneracy in phase separation.

Mattia Conte, Luca Fiorillo, Simona Bianco, Andrea M Chiariello, Andrea Esposito, Mario Nicodemi

Open access · goldAbstract read
In one paragraph

Article in Nature communications, 2020. The graph could read no effect estimate from its abstract, so it casts no vote on the map. Cited by 73 papers.

0numbers the graph read from it
0cells of the map it votes in
73citing papers in PubMed
8.3field-weighted citation impact, top 1% of its field
1 · What the graph read from it

What it found

Each row is one number read from the abstract, on the scale the paper reported it, with its interval. Left of the dashed line favours the treatment, right favours the comparator. Under each row is the sentence it came from. New to these charts? A ten-minute tutorial.

The abstract states no effect estimate the extractor could read, or names no intervention and outcome on the map, so this paper lights no cell and moves no belief. It is still indexed, cited and linked below.

2 · The registry

The trial behind it

Trials whose registry record cites this paper, or whose number appears in the abstract. A trial that started after this paper was published is citing it as background, not reporting it.

Neither the registry nor the abstract names a trial number. If this is a trial report, that itself is worth knowing.

3 · Its place in the literature

Who cites it

73 citing papers in PubMed, 150 citations in OpenAlex.

  1. Article
  2. Article
  3. Article
  4. Article
  5. Review
  6. Investigating Phase Separation in Genome Folding via Multiscale Computational Modeling.Advanced science (Weinheim, Baden-Wurttemberg, Germany) · 2026
    Review
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  8. Article
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  15. Bridging spatial and temporal scales of developmental gene regulation.Current opinion in genetics & development · 2025
    Review
  16. Article
  17. Review
  18. Article
  19. Insulation between adjacent TADs is controlled by the width of their boundaries through distinct mechanisms.Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences of the United States of America · 2025
    Article
  20. Linking DNA-packing density distribution and TAD boundary locations.Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences of the United States of America · 2025
    Article

13 more citing papers are in PubMed but not listed here.

4 · The record

Corrections and comments

PubMed lists nothing against this paper. Absence here is not a guarantee, only a check that was made.

5 · Who and what money

Authors and funding

6 authors at 2 institutions in 2 countries.

Mattia ConteDipartimento di Fisica, Università di Napoli Federico II, and INFN Napoli, Complesso Universitario di Monte Sant'Angelo, 80126, Naples, Italy.ORCID http://orcid.org/0000-0002-6670-9800
Luca FiorilloDipartimento di Fisica, Università di Napoli Federico II, and INFN Napoli, Complesso Universitario di Monte Sant'Angelo, 80126, Naples, Italy.ORCID http://orcid.org/0000-0003-2967-0123
Simona BiancoDipartimento di Fisica, Università di Napoli Federico II, and INFN Napoli, Complesso Universitario di Monte Sant'Angelo, 80126, Naples, Italy.ORCID http://orcid.org/0000-0001-5819-060X
Andrea M ChiarielloDipartimento di Fisica, Università di Napoli Federico II, and INFN Napoli, Complesso Universitario di Monte Sant'Angelo, 80126, Naples, Italy.ORCID http://orcid.org/0000-0002-6112-0167
Andrea EspositoDipartimento di Fisica, Università di Napoli Federico II, and INFN Napoli, Complesso Universitario di Monte Sant'Angelo, 80126, Naples, Italy.
Mario NicodemiDipartimento di Fisica, Università di Napoli Federico II, and INFN Napoli, Complesso Universitario di Monte Sant'Angelo, 80126, Naples, Italy. mario.nicodemi@na.infn.it.ORCID http://orcid.org/0000-0002-8416-6416
Istituto Nazionale di Fisica Nucleare, Sezione di Napoli · ITMax Delbrück Center · DE

Funding

San Diego Center for 4D Nucleome ResearchU54DK107977 · NIDDK · LUDWIG INSTITUTE FOR CANCER RES LTD · PI MURRE, CORNELIS, REN, BING · 2015 to 2019
$9.4M
NIDDK NIH HHS U54 DK107977
6 · The paper itself

Abstract

The spatial organization of chromosomes has key functional roles, yet how chromosomes fold remains poorly understood at the single-molecule level. Here, we employ models of polymer physics to investigate DNA loci in human HCT116 and IMR90 wild-type and cohesin depleted cells. Model predictions on single-molecule structures are validated against single-cell imaging data, providing evidence that chromosomal architecture is controlled by a thermodynamics mechanism of polymer phase separation whereby chromatin self-assembles in segregated globules by combinatorial interactions of chromatin factors that include CTCF and cohesin. The thermodynamics degeneracy of single-molecule conformations results in broad structural and temporal variability of TAD-like contact patterns. Globules establish stable environments where specific contacts are highly favored over stochastic encounters. Cohesin depletion reverses phase separation into randomly folded states, erasing average interaction patterns. Overall, globule phase separation appears to be a robust yet reversible mechanism of chromatin organization where stochasticity and specificity coexist.

Indexed as

Molecular ConformationPhysical PhenomenaCCCTC-Binding FactorCell Cycle ProteinsCell LineChromatinChromatin Assembly and DisassemblyChromosomal Proteins, Non-HistoneCohesinsHCT116 CellsHumansPolymersProtein BindingSingle-Cell AnalysisStochastic ProcessesThermodynamicsCCCTC-Binding FactorCell Cycle ProteinsChromatinChromosomal Proteins, Non-HistoneCohesinsCTCF protein, humanPolymers

Identifiers

PMID32620890
PMCPMC7335158
OpenAlexW3038841557

What OpenQuestion holds

Textmetadata
LicenceCC BY
Read underepoch 390

Registered trials

None linked

Read under generation 80e0d062 · epoch 390. Bibliography from PubMed, PubMed Central and OpenAlex; grants from NIH RePORTER; trial links from ClinicalTrials.gov; estimates, votes and beliefs from the OpenQuestion graph.