Over the last decade, and especially after the advent of fluorescent in situ hybridization imaging and chromosome conformation capture methods, the availability of experimental data on genome 3D organization has dramatically increased. We now have access to unprecedented details of genome organization within the interphase nucleus. Development of new computational approaches that leverage such data has already resulted in the first three-dimensional structures of genomic domains and genomes. Such approaches expand our knowledge of the chromatin folding principles, which has been classically studied using polymer physics and molecular simulations.
With the increasing accuracy and flexibility of integrative approaches, we envision a wide spread of applications in genome 3D determination. The participation of the structural computational biology community will be crucial for curating, organizing and disseminating the wealth of incipient data. We invite scientists to participate in open discussions of these questions and approaches.
This is a great discussion about this new field. Please also see the first multi-scale human 3D genome model developed together with a software viewer: Genome3D. Many of the signficant challenges still exist for a model-view framework as a practical tool.