Super resolution imaging of chromatin in pluripotency, differentiation, and reprogramming
Chromatin fiber organization is essential for gene function in all cell types. Moreover it helps to determine cell fate in embryonic/adult stem cells and in somatic cells undergoing reprogramming to pluripotency. Until now the diffraction limit of light has limited the inspection of the chromatin fiber organization to a level sufficient to understand how it impacts gene function. The development of advanced microscopy methods, such as single molecule localization microscopy, has largely opened a new field of research providing us with the tools to visualize and quantitatively analyze chromatin fiber organization and thus gene activity at nanoscale resolution in single cells. ; We are grateful for support from Ministerio de Economia y Competitividad and FEDER funds (SAF2011-28580, BFU2014-54717-P, and BFU2015-71984-ERC to MPC, FIS2015-63550-R to ML, BFU2013-49867-EXP to MPC and ML), ERC 337191-MOTORS to ML, AGAUR grant (2014 SGR1137 to MPC), the European Union's Horizon 2020 research and innovation programme under grant agreement CellViewer No. 686637 (to MPC and ML), Spanish Ministry of Economy and Competitiveness, 'Centro de Excelencia Severo Ochoa 2013–2017 and the CERCA Programme/Generalitat de Catalunya (to MPC).