Packaging the fly genome: domains and dynamics

Abstract

Two independent genomic approaches have recently converged to provide insight into the domain organization of the Drosophila genome. Genome-wide mapping of chromosomal proteins and histone modifications has generated detailed maps of the Drosophila chromatin landscape and has led to the identification of a number of different chromatin states and their distribution in domains across the genome. A remarkably similar domain organization is derived from whole genome mapping of chromatin interactions that reveals the segmentation of the genome into structural domains. This review focuses on our current understanding of this domain architecture which provides a foundation for our understanding of the link between chromatin organization and the dynamic activity of the genome.