ABSTRACT
This chapter discusses the generic aspects of genome organization during interphase in terms of the conceptual connection between the large-scale structure of chromosomes and the physics beyond the crumpled structure of entangled ring polymers in solution. It explains experimental and theoretical results for microrheology of Brownian nanoprobes dispersed in the nuclear medium. The chapter focuses on experimental progress concerning nuclear chromosome structure and dynamics and the motion of nuclear bodies and their interpretation in terms of theoretical concepts borrowed from generic polymer and soft matter physics. It provides the necessary introduction to the phenomenology of chromosome organization and single-particle tracking applied to the exploration of the nucleus. The mechanisms beyond chromosome folding within the nuclei of eukaryotic cells have fundamental implications in important processes like gene expression and regulation. Extensive Molecular Dynamics computer simulations then showed that the swelling of model mitotic-like chromosomes leads to compact territories with physical properties akin to crumpled conformations of ring polymers in entangled solutions.
