Super-resolving chromatin in its own terms: Recent approaches to portray genomic organization

Abstract

Chromatin organizes in a highly hierarchical manner that affects gene regulation. While many discoveries in the field have been driven by genomic techniques, super-resolution microscopy has proved to be an essential method to fully understand folding in single cells. In this article we summarize the main strategies to probe chromatin architecture using single-molecule localization microscopy and some of the key findings this has enabled. We specifically focus on the recent developments in techniques using oligonucleotide libraries and how their versatility drives multiplexing. These multiplexed libraries allow to super-resolve architectural proteins, DNA folding and transcription. We compare the latest results in this field and reflect about the future of these methods.