Interplay of chromatin self-adhesion and lengthwise compaction on interchromosomal organization*

Chromosome folding is driven by an interplay between two major forces: self-adhesion between specific chromatin segments and lengthwise compaction, which is in line with experimental observations of structure and dynamics of cellular chromosomes. We use a coarse-grained polymer model for chromosomes where centromeres and telomeres are treated as polymer blocks featuring respective self-adhesion, and simulate multiple chromosomes in a confined volume. We find that our scheme of lengthwise compaction drives the formation of chromosome territories, whereas, self-adhesive centromeres and telomeres tend to form localized clusters. We highlight the interplay between self-adhesion and lengthwise compaction, based on their relative strengths, that addresses a fundamental aspect of genome organization in the eukaryotic nuclei.