Physical principles of phase-separation action on chromatin looping associated to pathogenic gene activation

Phase-separation of chimeric proteins resulting from genetic mutations has been shown to trigger aberrant chromatin looping, contributing to disease development, including cancer. However, the physical mechanisms regulating these processes are not yet fully understood. In this study, we employ polymer physics models of chromatin and numerical simulations to investigate the relationship between phase-separation of proteins and chromatin structure. We demonstrate that a simple model, including only protein-protein and protein-chromatin interactions, effectively explains the aberrant looping observed around oncogenes, such as PBX3, in cells expressing the NUP98-HOXA9 chimeric protein, which is associated with leukemia. In this scenario, looping occurs through a switch-like mechanism controlled by the concentration of the chimera and its affinity with chromatin. Moreover, when incorporating the presence of extruding factors in a more complex model, similar results are observed, indicating a mild dependence of this looping mechanism on loop-extrusion activity. Finally, leveraging our numerical simulations, we propose potential strategies to inhibit the formation of enhancer-gene loops by directly targeting the chimeric protein with interfering molecules.