The spatial organization of the genome in mammalian cells

Heterochromatin condensation in central and peripheral nuclear regions of maturing lymphocytes in the peripheral blood of patients suffering from B chronic lymphocytic leukemia – a cytochemical study

“…However, the information on the heterochromatin condensation state in central and peripheral nuclear regions in maturing cells is very limited or missing [5 6]. It should be mentioned that central nuclear regions possess gene rich chromosomal territories and gene poor chromosomal territories are in the nuclear periphery at the nuclear membrane [2,7,8,9]. The present study was undertaken to provide complementary information on the heterochromatin in various nuclear regions of human leukemic lymphocytes during their maturation.…”

Radial chromatin positioning is shaped by local gene density, not by gene expression

“…Such patterns have been found evolutionarily conserved over several hundred millions of years (Alexandrova et al 2003;Federico et al 2006;Habermann et al 2001;Neusser et al 2007;Postberg et al 2005;Tanabe et al 2002) and illustrate that the radial arrangement of chromatin in the interphase nucleus represents a basic principle of nuclear architecture (for review, see Foster and Bridger 2005;Kosak and Groudine 2004;Misteli 2004;Pederson 2004;Zink 2006).…”

Functional redundancy in the nuclear compartmentalization of the late-replicating genome

“…transcription, replication) cluster and form distinct subcompartments, and by extension the genome is equally segregated according to its chromatin state and thus its functional status. [1][2][3][4] At its most basic level, genomic DNA can be divided into euchromatin and heterochromatin, which form distinct compartments in the interphase nucleus that are easily visualized with a nucleic acid counterstain. 5,6 Heterochromatin consists of highly compacted chromatin that is marked by repressive histone modifications and largely devoid of genic transcription.…”