Chromosome conformation capture, or 3C, is a high-throughput molecular biology technique used to analyze the organization of chromosomes in a cell's natural state. Studying the structural properties and spatial organization of chromosomes is important for the understanding and evaluation of the regulation of gene expression, DNA replication and repair, and recombination.
One example of chromosomal interactions influencing gene expression is a chromosomal region which can fold in order to bring an enhancer and associated transcription factors within close proximity of a gene, as was first shown in the beta-globin locus. Chromosome conformation capture has enabled researchers to study the influences of chromosomal activity on the aforementioned cellular mechanisms. This technology has aided the genetic and epigenetic study of chromosomes both in model organisms and in humans.
Several techniques have been developed from 3C to increase the throughput of quantifying a chromosome’s interactions with other chromosomes and with proteins. All the 3C related technologies are broadly categorized into four groups. (1) 3C and ChIP version of 3C (ChIP-loop assay), (2) 4C and ChIP version of 4C (enhanced 4C), (3) 5C and 3D assays and (4) Genome conformation capture (GCC) related (Hi-C), ChIP version of GCC as 6C. The application of analyzing DNA segments by microarray and high-throughput sequencing in the 4C, 5C and Hi-C methodologies has brought the assessment of chromosome interactions to the genome-wide scale.
Read more about Chromosome Conformation Capture: Chromosome Conformation Capture (3C), Circularized Chromosome Conformation Capture (4C), Carbon-Copy Chromosome Conformation Capture (5C), ChIP-loop, Advantages and Disadvantages, History
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