Cancer cells frequently have disease-specific chromosome rearrangements. It is poorly understood why translocations between chromosomes recur at specific breakpoints in the genome. Here we provide evidence that higher-order spatial genome organization is a contributing factor in the formation of recurrent translocations. We show that MYC, BCL and immunoglobulin loci, which are recurrently translocated in various B-cell lymphomas, are preferentially positioned in close spatial proximity relative to each other in normal B cells. Loci in spatial proximity are non-randomly positioned towards the nuclear interior in normal B cells. This locus proximity is the consequence of higher-order genome structure rather than a property of individual genes. Our results suggest that the formation of specific translocations in human lymphomas, and perhaps other tissues, is determined in part by higher-order spatial organization of the genome.

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Tissue-specific spatial organization of genomes

Genomes are organized in vivo in the form of chromosomes. Each chromosome occupies a distinct nuclear subvolume in the form of a chromosome territory. The spatial positioning of chromosomes within the interphase nucleus is often nonrandom. It is unclear whether the nonrandom spatial arrangement of chromosomes is conserved among tissues or whether spatial genome organization is tissuespecific.