In eukaryotes, the genome is partitioned into chromosomes that occupy specific territories in the nuclear space during interphase1. The chromatin forming the chromosomes can be divided into two main states: one of accessible chromatin that is transcriptionally permissive, and the other of compact chromatin that is transcriptionally repressive. These chromatin states segregate and rarely mix in the nuclear space, forming two distinct compartments in the nucleus2. At the sub-megabase scale, boundaries separate domains of high-frequency chromatin interactions, called TADs, that mark chromosomal organization3,4,5. In mammals, TAD boundaries are occupied by cohesin and CCCTC-binding factor (CTCF)6,7,8. The cohesin complex extrudes chromatin and halts at CTCF-binding sites that are disposed in a convergent orientation in the genomic sequence to form stable chromatin loops9,10,13,14. Genetic disruption of the CTCF DNA-binding site at the boundaries or reduction in CTCF and cohesin protein abundance results in abnormal interactions between regulatory elements, loss of TAD formation, and gene expression deregulation9,10,11,13,14.
In Drosophila, the boundaries between TADs are occupied by several APs, including boundary element-associated factor 32 kDa (BEAF-32), Motif 1 binding protein (M1BP), centrosomal protein 190 (CP190), suppressor of hairy-wing (SuHW), and CTCF, and are enriched in active histone modifications and Polymerase II16,17,18. It has been suggested that in Drosophila, TADs appear as a consequence of transcription13,17,19, and the exact role of independent APs in boundary formation and insulation properties is still under investigation. Thus, whether domains in Drosophila are a sole consequence of the aggregation of regions of similar transcriptional states or whether APs, including CTCF, contribute to boundary formation remains to be fully characterized. Exploration of genomic contacts at high resolution has been possible through the development of chromosome conformation capture technologies coupled with next-generation sequencing. The Hi-C protocol was first described with the ligation step performed "in solution"2 in an attempt to avoid spurious ligation products between chromatin fragments. However, several studies pointed to the realization that the useful signal in the data came from ligation products formed at partially lysed nuclei that were not in solution20,21.
The protocol was then modified to perform the ligation inside the nucleus as part of the single-cell Hi-C experiment22. The in-nucleus Hi-C protocol was subsequently incorporated into cell population Hi-C to yield a more consistent coverage over the full range of genomic distances and produce data with less technical noise23,24. The protocol, described in detail here, is based on the population in-nucleus Hi-C protocol23,24 and was used to investigate the consequences of genetically removing DNA-binding motifs for CTCF and M1BP from a domain boundary at the Notch gene locus in Drosophila25. The results show that altering the DNA-binding motifs for APs at the boundary has drastic consequences for Notch domain formation, larger topological defects in the regions surrounding the Notch locus, and gene expression deregulation. This indicates that genetic elements at domain boundaries are important for the maintenance of genome topology and gene expression in Drosophila25.