Dresden 2014 – scientific programme

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CPP: Fachverband Chemische Physik und Polymerphysik

CPP 45: The Collapsed State of Polymers: From Physical Concepts to Applications and Biological Systems (symposium, CPP/DY/BP)

CPP 45.2: Invited Talk

Thursday, April 3, 2014, 10:00–10:30, HSZ 02

Nanoscopy of nuclear Genome Structure — •Christoph Cremer — Institute of Molecular Biology (IMB), D-55128 Mainz — Kirchhoff-Institute of Physics (KIP) University Heidelberg, D-69120 Heidelberg — Institute of Pharmacy and Molecular Biotechnology (IPMB) University Heidelberg, D-69120 Heidelberg

Numerical models as well biochemical data indicate a decisive functional role of genome nanostructure; but due to the conventional resolution limits of far-field light microscopy, direct light microscopic tests of such models were believed to be impossible. However, novel developments in optical technology and photophysics succeeded to radically overcome these conventional limits. With such"superresolution" techniques, it has become possible to analyze nuclear genome structure with a greatly enhanced light optical resolution down to a few tens of nanometer. Application examples will be presented on the use of such "nanoscopy" procedures to measure in cell nuclei the size of individual small chromatin domains, of replication and transcription complexes, as well as the spatial distribution of individual nuclear proteins and of short specifically labelled DNA sequences. It is anticipated that the wealth of nanoscale information on nuclear genome nanostructure accessible by the novel superresolution approaches will substantially contribute to the theoretical understanding of the folding in space and time of the huge polymers called chromosomes, and its functional consequences.