RNA Biogenesis Instructs Functional Inter-Chromosomal Genome Architecture

Three-dimensional genome organization has emerged as an important layer of gene regulation in development and disease. The functional properties of chromatin folding within individual chromosomes (i.e., intra-chromosomal or in cis) have been studied extensively. On the other hand, interactions across different chromosomes (i.e., inter-chromosomal or in trans) have received less attention, being often regarded as background noise or technical artifacts. This viewpoint has been challenged by emerging evidence of functional relationships between specific trans chromatin interactions and epigenetic control, transcription, and splicing. Therefore, it is an intriguing possibility that the key processes involved in the biogenesis of RNAs may both shape and be in turn influenced by inter-chromosomal genome architecture. Here I present the rationale behind this hypothesis, and discuss a potential experimental framework aimed at its formal testing. I present a specific example in the cardiac myocyte, a well-studied post-mitotic cell whose development and response to stress are associated with marked rearrangements of chromatin topology both in cis and in trans. I argue that RNA polymerase II clusters (i.e., transcription factories) and foci of the cardiac-specific splicing regulator RBM20 (i.e., splicing factories) exemplify the existence of trans-interacting chromatin domains (TIDs) with important roles in cellular homeostasis. Overall, I propose that inter-molecular three-dimensional proximity between co-regulated nucleic acids may be a pervasive functional mechanism in biology.