Sister-chromatid cohesion describes the orderly association of newly replicated DNA molecules behind replication forks. It plays an essential role in the maintenance and faithful transmission of genetic information. Cohesion is created by DNA topological links and proteinaceous bridges, whose formation and deposition could be potentially affected by many processes. Current knowledge on cohesion has been mainly gained by fluorescence microscopy observation. However, the resolution limit of microscopy and the restricted number of genomic positions that can be simultaneously visualized considerably hampered progress. Here, we present a high-throughput methodology to monitor sister-chromatid contacts (Hi-SC2). Using the multi-chromosomal Vibrio cholerae bacterium as a model, we show that Hi-SC2 permits to monitor local variations in sister-chromatid cohesion at a high resolution over a whole genome.

姐妹染色单体的内聚描述了复制叉后新复制的DNA分子的有序结合。它在维护和忠实地传递遗传信息方面起着至关重要的作用。内聚力是由DNA拓扑链接和蛋白质桥形成的，其形成和沉积可能会受到许多过程的影响。目前对内聚力的认识主要是通过荧光显微镜观察获得的。但是，显微镜的分辨率极限和可同时可视化的基因组位置数量有限，极大地阻碍了进展。在这里，我们提出了一种高通量方法来监测姐妹染色单体接触（Hi-SC2）。使用多染色体霍乱弧菌 细菌作为模型，我们显示Hi-SC2可以在整个基因组上高分辨率监测姐妹染色单体内聚力的局部变化。