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Updated: May 29, 2025

Using Fluorescence In Situ Hybridization FISH to Monitor the State of Arm Cohesion in Prometaphase and Metaphase I Drosophila Oocytes
Published on: December 6, 2017
Cohesin as an essential disruptor of chromosome organization
1Wellcome Centre for Cell Biology, University of Edinburgh, The Michael Swann Building, Edinburgh EH9 3BF, UK.
Abstract:
Cohesin is a multi-subunit molecular machine that is able to create lateral chromatin loops within a linear chromosome fiber. Despite intense study, a consensus view of the functional significance of loop extrusion has remained elusive. This perspective proposes a rationale based on the need for continual disruption of spurious higher-order chromatin secondary structures. It is argued that cohesin-mediated chromosomal churn ensures broad accessibility to the diffusible factors on which genome function depends.
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