Dresden 2020 – scientific programme

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BP: Fachverband Biologische Physik

BP 19: Poster VII

BP 19.31: Poster

Tuesday, March 17, 2020, 14:00–16:00, P2/3OG

Maximum entropy model for the spatial organization of the E. coli chromosome — •Lucas Tröger, Joris Messelink, and Chase Broedersz — LMU, Munich, Germany

Bacterial chromosomes lack many proteins that are central for the spatial structuring of eukaryotic DNA. Despite this, bacterial chromosomes are not just randomly folded within the cells; recent Hi-C experiments that quantify spatial interactions between pairs of regions of the chromosome reveal a high degree of organization. However, extracting a 3D model from such data remains a major challenge. To address this problem, we use a statistical mechanics approach. Specifically, we infer a least-biased 3D representation of the chromosome of Escherichia coli by developing a maximum entropy model based on Hi-C data. This allows us to derive the full joint probability distribution of spatial chromosome configurations in E. coli. From this, novel organizational features can be extracted.