Crossing complexity of space-filling curves reveals entanglement of S-phase DNA.

ABSTRACT: Space-filling curves have been used for decades to study the folding principles of globular proteins, compact polymers, and chromatin. Formally, space-filling curves trace a single circuit through a set of points (x,y,z); informally, they correspond to a polymer melt. Although not quite a melt, the folding principles of Human chromatin are likened to the Hilbert curve: a type of space-filling curve. Hilbert-like curves in general make biologically compelling models of chromatin; in particular, they lack knots which facilitates chromatin folding, unfolding, and easy access to genes. Knot complexity has been intensely studied with the aid of Alexander polynomials; however, the approach does not generalize well to cases of more than one chromosome. Crossing complexity is an understudied alter

SUBMITTER: Kinney N 

PROVIDER: S-EPMC7458320 | biostudies-literature | 2020

REPOSITORIES: biostudies-literature