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Updated: Aug 24, 2026

Neutron Radiography and Computed Tomography of Biological Systems at the Oak Ridge National Laboratory's High Flux Isotope Reactor
Published on: May 7, 2021
Virtual radiation biophysics: implications of nuclear structure
G Kreth1, J Finsterle, C Cremer
1Kirchhoff Institute for Physics, INF 227 Heidelberg, Germany. gkreth@kip.uni-heidelberg.de
Abstract:
The non-random positioning of chromosome territories (CTs) in lymphocyte cell nuclei has raised the question whether systematic chromosome-chromosome associations exist which have significant influence on interchange rates. In such a case the spatial proximity of certain CTs or even of clusters of CTs is expected to increase the respective exchange yields significantly, in comparison to a random association of CTs. In the present study we applied computer simulated arrangements of CTs to calculate interchange frequencies between all heterologous CT pairs, assuming a uniform action of the molecular repair machinery. For the positioning of CTs in the virtual nuclear volume we assumed a) a statistical, and b) a gene density-correlated arrangement. The gene density-correlated arrangement regards the more experimentally observed interior localization of gene-rich and the more peripheral positioning of gene-poor CTs. Regarding one-chromosome yields, remarkable differences for single CTs were observed taking into account the gene density-correlated distribution of CTs.
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