Higher-order chromatin structure: looping long molecules

Chromatin structure plays a variety of roles in eukaryotes, ranging from th e structural organization of the genome to the facilitation of transcriptio n factors and remodeling of individual gene promoters. Higher-order chromat in structure typically refers to those structural features of the genome th at serve to facilitate large-scale condensation and packaging. It is becomi ng increasingly clear, however, that large-scale features that create loop domains play an important role in the management and functional organizatio n of the genome as well. Recently, plant models have made significant contr ibutions to our understanding of higher-order chromatin structures in eukar yotes.