2022 Vol. 13, No. 4

By combining imaging and sequencing, Chang et al. studied the role of lamin B1 in chromatin architecture and dynamics. They found that lamin B1 depletion leads to detachment of LADs from the nuclear periphery accompanied with global chromatin redistribution and decompaction. Consequently, the inter-chromosomal as well as inter-compartment interactions are increased, but the structure of topologically associating domains (TADs) is not affected. Using live-cell genomic loci tracking, the authors further proved that depletion of lamin B1 leads to increased chromatin dynamics, owing to chromatin decompaction and redistribution toward nucleoplasm. Taken together, these data suggest that lamin B1 and chromatin interactions at the nuclear periphery promote LAD maintenance, chromatin compaction, genomic compartmentalization into chromosome territories and A/B compartments and confine chromatin dynamics, supporting its crucial role in chromatin higher-order structure and chromatin dynamics.