Quantitative analysis of chromatin dynamics and nuclear geometry in living yeast cells

Chromosome high-order architecture has been increasingly studied over the last decade thanks to technological breakthroughs in imaging and in molecular biology. It is now established that structural organization of the genome is a key determinant in all aspects of genomic transactions. Although several models have been proposed to describe the folding of chromosomes, the physical principles governing their organization are still largely debated. Nucleus is the cell’s compartment in which chromosomal DNA is confined. Geometrical constrains imposed by nuclear confinement are expected to affect high-order chromatin structure. However, the quantitative measurement of the influence of the nuclear structure on the genome organization is unknown, mostly because accurate nuclear shape and size determination is technically challenging. This thesis was organized along two axes: the first aim of my project was to study the dynamics and physical properties of chromatin in the S. cerevisiae yeast nucleus. The second objective I had was to develop techniques to detect and analyze the nuclear 3D geomtry with high accuracy. Ribosomal DNA (rDNA) is the repetitive sequences which clustered in the nucleolus in budding yeast cells. First, I studied the dynamics of non-rDNA and rDNA in exponentially growing yeast cells. The motion of the non-rDNA could be modeled as a two-regime Rouse model. The dynamics of rDNA was very different and could be fitted well with a power law of scaling exponent ~0.7. Furthermore, we compared the dynamics change of non-rDNA in WT strains and temperature sensitive (TS) strains before and after global transcription was actived. The fluctuations of non-rDNA genes after transcriptional inactivation were much higher than in the control strain. The motion of the chromatin was still consistent with the Rouse model. We propose that the chromatin in living cells is best modeled using an alternative Rouse model: the “branched Rouse polymer”. Second, we developed “NucQuant”, an automated fluorescent localization method which accurately interpolates the nuclear envelope (NE) position in a large cell population. This algorithm includes a post-acquisition correction of the measurement bias due to spherical aberration along Z-axis. “NucQuant” can be used to determine the nuclear geometry under different conditions. Combined with microfluidic technology, I could accurately estimate the shape and size of the nuclei in 3D along entire cell cycle. “NucQuant” was also utilized to detect the distribution of nuclear pore complexes (NPCs) clusters under different conditions, and revealed their non-homogeneous distribution. Upon reduction of the nucleolar volume, NPCs are concentrated in the NE flanking the nucleolus, suggesting a physical link between NPCs and the nucleolar content. In conclusion, we have further explored the biophysical properties of the chromatin, and proposed that chromatin in the nucleoplasm can be modeled as "branched Rouse polymers". Moreover, we have developed “NucQuant”, a set of computational tools to facilitate the study of the nuclear shape and size. Further analysis will be required to reveal the links between the nucleus geometry and the chromatin dynamics.