Lamins and lamina-associated domains in the establishment of cell identity

Project leader:Philippe Collas
Info:At the nuclear periphery, the nuclear lamina provides nuclear structural rigidity and genomic stability. At the lamina, both A- and B-type lamins interact with chromatin in the form of lamina-associated domains (LADs) and of more punctual associations with genes and regulatory elements. A-type lamins also interact with genes, promoters and enhancers in the nucleus interior. We investigate the dynamics and mechanisms of lamin interactions with chromatin during adipogenic lineage specification and how LADs contribute to the definition of cell identity (adipose and other).

Julia Madsen-Østerbye, Anita Sørensen, Kristin Vekterud, Mohamed Abdelhalim

Ongoing research

Regulation of nuclear lamina interactions with chromatin via LADs and sub-LAD microdomains during adipose differentiation
Role of A- and B-type lamins on lineage-specific differentiation of adipose stem cells

Our work relies on mechanistic cell biology and genomic approaches using engineered cell lines and primary mesenchymal stem cells.

Recent findings

High-order rearrangement of chromatin domains when disrupting lamin-chromatin contacts
Differential gene expression in LADs during adipogenesis (Madsen-Østerbye 2022 Genome Biol)
Variable LADs are linked to adipose cell identity
ChIP protocols for nuclear lamins (Oldenburg 2016 Method Mol Biol )
Enriched domain detector (EDD) for identification of LADs from lamin ChIP-seq data (Lund 2014 Nucl Acids Res )