Dresden 2026 – scientific programme
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CPP: Fachverband Chemische Physik und Polymerphysik
CPP 50: Focus Session: Theoretical Modeling and Simulation of Biomolecular Condensates II (joint session CPP/BP)
CPP 50.4: Talk
Thursday, March 12, 2026, 12:15–12:30, ZEU/0260
Polymer-assisted condensation as key to chromatin localization — •Arghya Majee1 and Jens-Uwe Sommer1,2,3 — 1Leibniz Institute of Polymer Research Dresden, Germany — 2Institute for Theoretical Physics, TU Dresden, Germany — 3Cluster of Excellence Physics of Life, TU Dresden, Germany
We put forward a novel mechanism [1] to account for the experimentally observed [2] positional shifts of chromosomes within the cell nucleus, which appear to be driven by compositional alterations in the nuclear lamina. By considering chromatin as a biomolecular condensate we demonstrate that the adsorption of the chromatin-binding proteins at the lamina leads to a wetting of the condensate while spreading of the chromatin on the lamina is avoided. This leads to the non-monotonous density profile of the polymer with respect to the surface which can be explained by the competition between the tendency of the protein component to wet the surface and the conformational restrictions of the polymer near the impenetrable surface. A change in the composition of the the lamina can lead to repositioning of chromatin towards the center of the nucleus. Our theory not only offers an explanation for specific chromatin conformation experiments, but also contributes to the broader understanding of wetting onto responsive surfaces in multi-component systems.
References:
[1] A. Majee and J.-U. Sommer, bioRxiv 2025.06.11.658974 (submitted).
[2] Amiad-Pavlov et al., Sci. Adv. 7, eabf6251 (2021).
Keywords: Biomolecular condensates; Chromatin localization; Wetting; Polymer theory