The spatial organization of chromatin is pivotal for regulating genome functions. We report an imaging method for tracing chromatin organization with kilobase- and nanometer-scale resolution, unveiling chromatin conformation across topologically associating domains (TADs) in thousands of individual cells. Our imaging data revealed TAD-like structures with globular conformation and sharp domain boundaries in single cells. The boundaries varied from cell to cell, occurring with non-zero probabilities at all genomic positions, but preferentially at CCCTC-binding factor (CTCF)- and cohesin-binding sites. Notably, cohesin depletion, which abolished TADs at the population-average level, did not diminish domain structures in single cells, but eliminated preferential TAD-like boundary positions. Moreover, we observed wide-spread, cooperative, multi-way chromatin interactions, which remained after cohesin depletion. These results provide critical insight into the mechanisms underlying chromatin domain and hub formation.

The spatial organization of chromatin critically impacts genome function. Recent chromosome-conformation-capture studies have revealed topologically-associating domains (TADs) as a conserved feature of chromatin organization, but how TADs are spatially organized in individual chromosomes remains unknown. Here we developed an imaging method for mapping the spatial positions of numerous genomic regions along individual chromosomes and traced the positions of TADs in human interphase autosomes and X chromosomes. We observed that chromosome folding deviates from the ideal fractal-globule model at large length scales and that TADs are largely organized into two compartments spatially arranged in a polarized fashion in individual chromosomes. Active and inactive X chromosomes adopt different folding and compartmentalization configurations. These results suggest that the spatial organization of chromatin domains can change in response to regulation.

Highlights d Massively multiplexed FISH enables mapping chromatin structure at genome scale d Multimodal high-throughput imaging places chromatin structure in functional context d Trans-chromosome or long-range interactions occur preferentially among active chromatin d Transcription activity correlates with local enrichment of compartment A chromatin