Crossref journal-article
American Society for Cell Biology (ASCB)
Molecular Biology of the Cell (1076)
Abstract

Metaphase nucleolar organizer regions (NORs), one of four types of chromosome bands, are located on human acrocentric chromosomes. They contain r-chromatin, i.e., ribosomal genes complexed with proteins such as upstream binding factor and RNA polymerase I, which are argyrophilic NOR proteins. Immunocytochemical and cytochemical labelings of these proteins were used to reveal r-chromatin in situ and to investigate its spatial organization within NORs by confocal microscopy and by electron tomography. For each labeling, confocal microscopy revealed small and large double-spotted NORs and crescent-shaped NORs. Their internal three-dimensional (3D) organization was studied by using electron tomography on specifically silver-stained NORs. The 3D reconstructions allow us to conclude that the argyrophilic NOR proteins are grouped as a fiber of 60–80 nm in diameter that constitutes either one part of a turn or two or three turns of a helix within small and large double-spotted NORs, respectively. Within crescent-shaped NORs, virtual slices reveal that the fiber constitutes several longitudinally twisted loops, grouped as two helical 250- to 300-nm coils, each centered on a nonargyrophilic axis of condensed chromatin. We propose a model of the 3D organization of r-chromatin within elongated NORs, in which loops are twisted and bent to constitute one basic chromatid coil.

Bibliography

Heliot, L., Kaplan, H., Lucas, L., Klein, C., Beorchia, A., Doco-Fenzy, M., Menager, M., Thiry, M., O’Donohue, M.-F., & Ploton, D. (1997). Electron Tomography of Metaphase Nucleolar Organizer Regions: Evidence for a Twisted-Loop Organization. Molecular Biology of the Cell, 8(11), 2199–2216.

Authors 10
  1. Laurent Heliot (first)
  2. Hervé Kaplan (additional)
  3. Laurent Lucas (additional)
  4. Christophe Klein (additional)
  5. Adrien Beorchia (additional)
  6. Martine Doco-Fenzy (additional)
  7. Monique Menager (additional)
  8. Marc Thiry (additional)
  9. Marie-Françoise O’Donohue (additional)
  10. Dominique Ploton (additional)
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Dates
Type When
Created 12 years, 1 month ago (July 2, 2013, 7:12 p.m.)
Deposited 3 years, 5 months ago (Feb. 26, 2022, 9:34 p.m.)
Indexed 1 month, 1 week ago (July 12, 2025, 6:43 p.m.)
Issued 27 years, 9 months ago (Nov. 1, 1997)
Published 27 years, 9 months ago (Nov. 1, 1997)
Published Print 27 years, 9 months ago (Nov. 1, 1997)
Funders 0

None

@article{Heliot_1997, title={Electron Tomography of Metaphase Nucleolar Organizer Regions: Evidence for a Twisted-Loop Organization}, volume={8}, ISSN={1939-4586}, url={http://dx.doi.org/10.1091/mbc.8.11.2199}, DOI={10.1091/mbc.8.11.2199}, number={11}, journal={Molecular Biology of the Cell}, publisher={American Society for Cell Biology (ASCB)}, author={Heliot, Laurent and Kaplan, Hervé and Lucas, Laurent and Klein, Christophe and Beorchia, Adrien and Doco-Fenzy, Martine and Menager, Monique and Thiry, Marc and O’Donohue, Marie-Françoise and Ploton, Dominique}, year={1997}, month=nov, pages={2199–2216} }