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New observations on the twisted arrangement of Dinoflagellate chromosomes

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Abstract

The Dinoflagellate Prorocentrum micans has been studied in classical and high voltage transmission electron microscopy, with the help of a goniometric stage. The general structure of the nucleus is analysed with special reference to the links observed between chromosomes and the nuclear envelope, the nucleoplasm and the nucleolus. The chromosomes present stacked series of nested arcs which are studied in detail. The sense of the arcs can be changed by a simple tilt of the section. These arcs do not correspond to DNA filaments with a genuine bend but to an illusion created by the overlap of layers of filaments whose orientation turns along the chromosome axis. — The transversal orientation of DNA and the examination of defects allow to rule out the polytenic hypothesis. It is clear that this hypothesis does not apply to bacterial nucleoids, which however can form series of nested arcs as in Dinoflagellate chromosomes. — The twisted arrangement of Dinoflagellate chromosomes is that of a liquid crystal of the cholesteric type. DNA is known to self assemble into cholesteric phases and this affords informations on the origin of the elongated shape of chromosomes and on the mechanisms of condensation and aggregation observed in this particular chromatin.

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  1. Histophysique et Cytophysique, EPHE, Centre de Cytologie Expérimentale, CNRS, 67, rue Maurice-Günsbourg, 94200, Ivry-sur-Seine, France

    F. Livolant & Y. Bouligand

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  1. F. Livolant
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  2. Y. Bouligand
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Livolant, F., Bouligand, Y. New observations on the twisted arrangement of Dinoflagellate chromosomes. Chromosoma 68, 21–44 (1978). https://doi.org/10.1007/BF00330370

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