Architectural alterations of the fission yeast genome during the cell cycle

Eukaryotic genomes are highly ordered through various mechanisms, including topologically associating domain (TAD) organization. We employed an in situ Hi-C approach to follow the 3D organization of the fission yeast genome during the cell cycle. We demonstrate that during mitosis, large domains of 300 kb-1 Mb are formed by condensin. This mitotic domain organization does not suddenly dissolve, but gradually diminishes until the next mitosis. By contrast, small domains of 30-40 kb that are formed by cohesin are relatively stable across the cell cycle. Condensin and cohesin mediate long- and short-range contacts, respectively, by bridging their binding sites, thereby forming the large and small domains. These domains are inversely regulated during the cell cycle but assemble independently. Our study describes the chromosomal oscillation between the formation and decay phases of the large and small domains, and we predict that the condensin-mediated domains serve as chromosomal compaction units.