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Architecture of the Chinese hamster metaphase chromosome

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Abstract

The development of procedures for the isolation of unfixed metaphase chromosomes has made feasible a direct analysis of their morphology. Wholemount stereo electron microscopy was used to examine intact and partially disrupted chromosomes produced by physical shearing and extraction with salt and urea solutions. A model of chromosome architecture was developed to accommodate evidence from studies using both light and electron microscopy. In the proposed model the chromatid (anaphase chromosome) consists of two half-chromatids; each half-chromatid contains two deoxyribonucleoprotein ribbons wound into a single fiber (termed the core), with many loops of chromatin (termed epichromatin) attached along its length. The core ribbons are each about 50 Å thick by 4000 Å wide and are composed of many parallel deoxyribonucleoprotein strands. The epichromatin loops appear to be 250 Å supercoiled fibers containing about 75 per cent of the chromosomal DNA. The epichromatin can be selectively removed from the core fibers by extraction with 2.0 M NaCl or 6.0 M urea solutions.

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. Department of Biology, The University of Texas M.D. Anderson Hospital and Tumor Institute at Houston, Houston, Texas

    Elton Stubblefield &  Wayne Wray

  2. McArdle Laboratory for Cancer Research, University of Wisconsin, 53706, Madison, Wisc., USA

    Wayne Wray

Authors
  1. Elton Stubblefield
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  2. Wayne Wray
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Supported in part by research grants GB-7248 and GB-16250 from the National Science Foundation, GM-15887 from the National Institutes of Health, E-286 from the American Cancer Society, Inc., and training grant T01 Ca 5047 from the National Institutes of Health.

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Stubblefield, E., Wray, W. Architecture of the Chinese hamster metaphase chromosome. Chromosoma 32, 262–294 (1971). https://doi.org/10.1007/BF00284839

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  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/BF00284839

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