Year: 2009
Type: article
Abstract: Nearly 100 years ago, biologists divided regions of chromo-somes into two types, euchromatin and heterochromatin, on the basis of their appearance (reviewed in [1]). The initial classification of DNA was based on the observation that euchromatic regions changed their degree of condensation during the cell division cycle, whereas heterochromatic regions remained highly condensed throughout the majority of the cell cycle. Although the biological significance of heterochromatin remained obscure for many years, it is now apparent that heterochromatin plays a number of biological roles, including a recently identified role in speciation. In addition to differences in the timing of chromosome condensation, numerous other differences have been identified between euchromatin and heterochromatin. Euchromatin is enriched with unique coding sequences, and the genes within the euchromatin are typically
Source: PLoS Biology
Authors: Stacie E. Hughes, R. Scott Hawley
Language: English
Subfield: Genetics
Domain: Life Sciences
Open Access status: gold
Estimated APC paid: $5,500
OpenAlex ID: W1986575934