The 3D Genome Browser: a web-based browser for visualizing 3D genome organization and long-range chromatin interactions

Abstract

Recent advent of 3C-based technologies such as Hi-C and ChIA-PET provides us an opportunity to explore chromatin interactions and 3D genome organization in an unprecedented scale and resolution. However, it remains a challenge to visualize chromatin interaction data due to its size and complexity. Here, we introduce the 3D Genome Browser (http://3dgenome.org), which allows users to conveniently explore both publicly available and their own chromatin interaction data. Users can also seamlessly integrate other \"omics\" data sets, such as ChIP-Seq and RNA-Seq for the same genomic region, to gain a complete view of both regulatory landscape and 3D genome structure for any given gene. Finally, our browser provides multiple methods to link distal cis-regulatory elements with their potential target genes, including virtual 4C, ChIA-PET, Capture Hi-C and cross-cell-type correlation of proximal and distal DNA hypersensitive sites, and therefore represents a valuable resource for the study of gene regulation in mammalian genomes.