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Updated: Jun 10, 2026

A Multilabel Single Molecule Localization Microscopy Protocol for Investigation of Chromatin in the Dense Nuclear Environment
Published on: June 5, 2026
Confining euchromatin/heterochromatin territory: jumonji crosses the line
1Gregor Mendel Institute of Molecular Plant Biology, Austrian Academy of Sciences, Vienna, Austria. hisashi.tamaru@gmi.oeaw.ac.at
Abstract:
Heterochromatin is typically highly condensed, gene-poor, and transcriptionally silent, whereas euchromatin is less condensed, gene-rich, and more accessible to transcription. Besides acting as a graveyard for selfish mobile DNA repeats, heterochromatin contributes to important biological functions, such as chromosome segregation during cell division. Multiple features of heterochromatin-including the presence or absence of specific histone modifications, DNA methylation, and small RNAs-have been implicated in distinguishing heterochromatin from euchromatin in various organisms. Cells malfunction if the genome fails to restrict repressive chromatin marks within heterochromatin domains. How euchromatin and heterochromatin territories are confined remains poorly understood. Recent studies from the fission yeast Schizosaccharomyces pombe, the flowering plant Arabidopsis thaliana, and the filamentous fungus Neurospora crassa have revealed a new role for Jumonji C (JmjC) domain-containing proteins in protecting euchromatin from heterochromatin marks.
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