Genes VII

The genetic material of all organisms and viruses takes the form of tightly packaged nucleoprotein. Some virus genomes are inserted into preformed virions, while others assemble a protein coat around the nucleic acid. The bacterial genome forms a dense nucleoid, with ~20% protein by mass, but details of the interaction of the proteins with DNA are not known. The DNA is organized into ~100 domains that maintain independent supercoiling, with a density of unrestrained supercoils corresponding to ~1 / 100 V200 bp. Interphase chromatin and metaphase chromosomes both appear to be organized into large loops. Each loop may be an independently supercoiled domain. The bases of the loops are connected to a metaphase scaffold or to the nuclear matrix by specific DNA sites.

Transcriptionally active sequences reside within the euchromatin that comprises the majority of interphase chromatin. The regions of heterochromatin are packaged ~5 V10 more compactly, and are transcriptionally inert. All chromatin becomes densely packaged during cell division, when the individual chromosomes can be distinguished. The existence of a reproducible ultrastructure in chromosomes is indicated by the production of G-bands by treatment with Giemsa stain. The bands are very large regions, ~10⁷ bp, that can be used to map chromosomal translocations or other large changes in structure.

Lampbrush chromosomes of amphibians and polytene chromosomes of insects have unusually extended structures, with packing ratios <100. Polytene chromosomes of D. melanogaster are divided into ~5000 bands, varying in size by an order of magnitude, with an average of ~25 kb. Transcriptionally active regions can be visualized in even more unfolded ("puffed") structures, in which material is extruded from the axis of the chromosome. This may resemble the changes that occur on a smaller scale when a sequence in euchromatin is transcribed.

The centromeric region contains the kinetochore, which is responsible for attaching a chromosome to the mitotic spindle. The centromere often is surrounded by heterochromatin. Centromeric sequences have been identified only in yeast, where they consist of short conserved elements and a long A PT-rich region. Proteins that bind to these sequences have been identified.

Telomeres make the ends of chromosomes stable. Almost all known telomeres consist of multiple repeats in which one strand has the general sequence C_nA/T)_m, where n >1 and m = 1 V4. The other strand, G_n(T/A)_m, has a single protruding end that provides a template for addition of individual bases in defined order. The enzyme telomere transferase is a ribonucleoprotein, whose RNA component provides the template for synthesizing the G-rich strand. This overcomes the problem of the inability to replicate at the very end of a duplex. The telomere stabilizes the chromosome end because the overhanging single strand G_n(T/A)_m displaces its homologue in earlier repeating units in the telomere to form a loop, so there are no free ends.