Scientists Discover That Chromosomes Are Fluid

Just WOW!!! After reading this article Scientists Discover That Chromosomes Are Fluid I cannot see genes and chromosomes the same again.

Through these experiments, the scientists were able to see that the range of forces exerted naturally in the nucleus – for example by enzymes replicating DNA – is sufficient to substantially alter the conformation of a chromosome. This major discovery, at the interface between physics and biology, changes the hitherto established representation of chromosomes. It also adds new elements to our understanding of biological processes, the biophysics of chromosomes, and the organization of the genome.

So basically chromosomes are so fluid that the can freely move about the cell and reorganise themselves if needed. That changes the picture in my head of what I was taught so I have to log this point given that so much store is placed on genetic integrity and every explanation assuming genes are quite rigid. I haven’t yet seen the implications of this in terms of how theories change. Instead I am following the story of how we learn about chromosome function in greater and greater detail.

Reference: “Live-cell micromanipulation of a genomic locus reveals interphase chromatin mechanics” by  Veer I. P. Keizer, Simon Grosse-Holz, Maxime Woringer, Laura Zambon, Koceila Aizel, Maud Bongaerts, Fanny Delille, Lorena Kolar-Znika, Vittore F. Scolari, Sebastian Hoffmann, Edward J. Banigan, Leonid A. Mirny, Maxime Dahan, Daniele Fachinetti and Antoine Coulon, 28 July 2022, Science.
DOI: 10.1126/science.abi9810