#37 · Epigenomics

Ensemble polymer models capture chromatin and disordered protein conformational states

The dominant thread is representing 3D conformational states as distributions rather than single structures. SR-EV, a minimal stochastic polymer model, generates nucleosome-resolution chromatin ensembles that reproduce nanoscale packing and single-cell Hi-C, treating organization as a distribution over structures rather than one averaged contact map. A second preprint applies maximum entropy inference to nucleosome-resolution Micro-C data, deriving sparse signed interaction landscapes and linking contact maps to regulatory chromatin states. What is new is operation at nucleosome and single-cell resolution, where ensemble treatment applies to individual-cell organization. The third preprint extends conformational analysis to intrinsically disordered proteins, applying knot-theory entanglement measures (writhe, second Vassiliev invariant) to simulated IDRome sequences and relating topology to sequence and function. This addresses a different polymer system than the chromatin studies, so its connection to them lies in polymer conformational analysis rather than chromatin-specific data.