PACKING DNA INTO CHROMOSOMES

  • 1 January 1980
    • journal article
    • research article
    • Vol. 46  (DEC) , 61-+
Abstract
EM of Kleinschmidt spread HeLa [human cervical carcinoma cell] metaphase nucleoids reveals a variety of protein-depleted structures (spreads) derived from chromosomes. Some spreads are chromosome-shaped, with an elongated, multifibered axis. At intervals, groups of lateral fibers emerge from the axes, probably as supercoiled loops. Deproteinized chromosomes isolated by a method which preserves high MW DNA are similar, but those from the Wray-Stubblefield hexylene glycol method tend to be fixed in length, and details of the chromosome axis are generally obscured. A model for chromosome packing involving structural but not functional polynemy is described.

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