Scientists created genome structure in 3-D

SAN DIEGO, April 21 (UPI) -- A team of U.S. scientists says it has, for the first time, demonstrated how a genome is organized in three-dimensional space.

Using a multidisciplinary mix of geometry, biology and techniques developed to solve problems on supercomputers, scientists at the University of California-San Diego used the gene encoding of the immunoglobulin heavy chain locus -- responsible for generating diverse kinds of antibodies -- to demonstrate the genome structure.

The researchers -- led by Professor Cornelis Murre and Steve Cutchin of the San Diego Supercomputer Center -- said their findings permit an insight into the structure of the human genome, which until now has remained elusive.

The results of the study that included Suchit Jhunjhunwala, Mandy Peak, and Menno van Zelm of University of California-San Diego; Roy Riblet of the Torrey Pines Institute for Molecular Studies in New Mexico; Jacques van Dongen and Frank Grosveld of the Erasmus Medical Center in Rotterdam, The Netherlands; and Tobias Knoch of Heidelberg University in Germany appear in the journal Cell.