Journal
CHROMOSOME RESEARCH
Volume 19, Issue 1, Pages 53-61Publisher
SPRINGER
DOI: 10.1007/s10577-010-9150-y
Keywords
chromosomal shape; chromosome territory; entropy; depletion attraction; Monte Carlo simulations
Funding
- E.P. Abraham Trust
- University of Oxford
- UK Government
- The Biotechnology and Biological Sciences Research Council
- The Medical Research Council
- The Wellcome Trust
- The Engineering and Physical Sciences Research Council
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Four specific forces (H-bonds, van der Waals forces, hydrophobic and charge interactions) shape the structure of proteins, and many biologists assume they will determine the shape of all structures in the cell. However, as the mass and contour length of a human chromosome are similar to 7 orders of magnitude larger than those of a typical protein, additional forces can become significant. We review evidence that additional non-specific (entropic) forces are major determinants of chromosomal shape and position. They are sufficient to drive the segregation (de-mixing) of newly replicated DNA to the poles of bacterial cells, while an entropic centrifuge can both form human chromosomes into territories and position them appropriately in nuclei; more locally, a depletion attraction can loop bacterial and human genomes.
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