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A relationship between replicon size and supercoiled loop domains in the eukaryotic genome

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Abstract

In interphase nuclei and metaphase chromosomes, eukaryotic chromosomal DNA is arranged in negatively supercoiled loops whose length averages several tens of kilobases (kb). Supercoiling indicates that the loops are tenaciously bound at both ends through the periodic attachment of DNA to a non-histone protein structural support, termed the nuclear matrix, skeleton or cage in interphase nuclei and the scaffold in metaphase chromosomes1–16. The looped organization has been envisaged to be important in DNA replication2,11,15,17–25 and transcription26–28. We report here a close relationship between average loop length and replicon size in different animal and plant species. Autoradiographic experiments support the hypothesis that DNA synthesis occurs at fixed sites on the nuclear matrix15,20. We also describe a modification of the looped organization occurring during early embryonic development in Xenopus laevis.

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Author notes

  1. Monique Marilley: Départment de Biologie Moleculaire et Cellulaire, Laboratoire de Morphogénèse Animale, LA CNRS 179, UER Scientifique de Luminy, F13288 Marseille Cedex 2, France

Authors and Affiliations

  1. Istituto di Istologia ed Embriologia, Facoltà di Scienze MFN, Università di Roma, Rome, Italy

    Mario Buongiorno-Nardelli, Gioacchino Micheli, Maria Teresa Carrĩ & Monique Marilley

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  1. Mario Buongiorno-Nardelli
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  2. Gioacchino Micheli
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  3. Maria Teresa Carrĩ
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  4. Monique Marilley
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Buongiorno-Nardelli, M., Micheli, G., Carrĩ, M. et al. A relationship between replicon size and supercoiled loop domains in the eukaryotic genome. Nature 298, 100–102 (1982). https://doi.org/10.1038/298100a0

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