Conformation and dynamics of DNA in confined environments: cross-talk between chromosomes in live cells and nanofluidic technologies
Résumé
Genome structure and dynamics attacts considerable attention in the biology community to eludicate genome regulation principles, but also for biological physicists who aim to develop models of DNA in vivo. The challenges of this research is conceptual but also economical because of expected impact of DNA sequencing or DNA microarrays technologies in personalized diagnostics. Our research is carried out at the nexus of technology and biology and aims to provide a physical description of the genome structural properties. We will first overview our results on chromosome dynamics in living yeast, showing the unexpected flexibility of these structures in vivo. We will then focus on new methods for chromosome analysis in vitro based on micro- and nano-fluidics, and we will finally emphasize that that these two topics are not so unrelated, given that the physics of DNA confined environment can be used as a common research framework.