PT - JOURNAL ARTICLE AU - Zackary Scholl AU - Jianling Zhong AU - Alexander J. Hartemink TI - Chromatin interactions correlate with local transcriptional activity in <em>Saccharomyces cerevisiae</em> AID - 10.1101/021725 DP - 2015 Jan 01 TA - bioRxiv PG - 021725 4099 - http://biorxiv.org/content/early/2015/06/30/021725.short 4100 - http://biorxiv.org/content/early/2015/06/30/021725.full AB - Genome organization is crucial for efficiently responding to DNA damage and regulating transcription. In this study, we relate the genome organization of Saccharomyces cerevisiae (budding yeast) to its transcription activity by analyzing published circularized chromosome conformation capture (4C) data in conjunction with eight separate datasets describing genome-wide transcription rate or RNA polymerase II (Pol II) occupancy. We find that large chromosome segments are more likely to interact in areas that have high transcription rate or Pol II occupancy. Additionally, we find that groups of genes with similar transcription rates or similar Pol II occupancy are more likely to have higher numbers of chromosomal interactions than groups of random genes. We hypothesize that transcription localization occurs around sets of genes with similar transcription rates, and more often around genes that are highly transcribed, in order to produce more efficient transcription. Our analysis cannot discern whether gene co-localization occurs because of similar transcription rates or whether similar transcription rates are a consequence of co-localization.