To theoretically model how chromosome architecture in ancient remains is affected by the passage of millennia, we begin with an initial, large chromatin chain; degradation is modeled as dissection of this chain into many short chains, whose subsequent diffusion is modeled as simple diffusion of phantom chains. This schematic illustrates the diffusion process. Here, we use a space-filling Hilbert curve as the initial chromatin conformation. 1D position along the trajectory is indicated using color, from purple to red. As particles diffuse, fine structure is disturbed, but coarse-scale co-localization persists, visible as monochromatic clusters. Eventually, the initial conformation is erased at all scales.
