Chromosome territories

The 23 human chromosome territories during prometaphase in fibroblast cells

In cell biology, chromosome territories are regions of the nucleus preferentially occupied by particular chromosomes.

Interphase chromosomes are long DNA strands that are extensively folded, and are often described as appearing like a bowl of spaghetti. The chromosome territory concept holds that despite this apparent disorder, chromosomes largely occupy defined regions of the nucleus.[1] Most eukaryotes are thought to have chromosome territories, although the budding yeast S. cerevisiae is an exception to this.[2]

  1. ^ Meaburn, Misteli T (January 25, 2007). "Chromosome territories". Nature. 445 (7126): 379–781. doi:10.1038/445379a. PMID 17251970. S2CID 4426363.
  2. ^ Cremer T, Cremer M (March 2010). "Chromosome Territories". Cold Spring Harb Perspect Biol. 2 (3): a003889. doi:10.1101/cshperspect.a003889. PMC 2829961. PMID 20300217.