TY - JOUR A1 - Trendelenburg, Michael F. A1 - Scheer, Ulrich A1 - Zentgraf, Hanswalter A1 - Franke, Werner W. T1 - Heterogeneity of spacer lengths in circles of amplified ribosomal DNA of two insect species, Dytiscus marginalis and Acheta domesticus N2 - No abstract available Y1 - 1976 U6 - http://nbn-resolving.de/urn/resolver.pl?urn:nbn:de:bvb:20-opus-33055 ER - TY - CHAP A1 - Franke, Werner W. A1 - Scheer, Ulrich A1 - Zentgraf, Hanswalter A1 - Trendelenburg, Michael F. A1 - Müller, U. A1 - Krohne, G. A1 - Spring, H. T1 - Organization of transcribed and nontranscribed chromatin N2 - No abstract available KW - Tumor / Zellteilung Y1 - 1980 U6 - http://nbn-resolving.de/urn/resolver.pl?urn:nbn:de:bvb:20-opus-40656 ER - TY - JOUR A1 - Franke, Werner W. A1 - Scheer, Ulrich A1 - Trendelenburg, Michael F. A1 - Spring, Herbert A1 - Zentgraf, Hanswalter T1 - Absence of nucleosomes in transcriptionally active chromatin N2 - The ultrastructure of twO kinds of transcription ally active chromatin, the lampbrush chromosome loops and the nucleoli from amphibian oocytes and primary nuclei of the green alga Acetabularia, has been examined after manual isolation and dispersion in low salt media of slightly alkaline pH using various electron microscopic staining techniques (positive staining, metal shadowing, negative staining, preparation on positively charged films, etc.) and compared with the appearance of chromatin from various somatic cells (hen erythrocytes, rat hepatocytes, ClIltured murine sarcoma cells) prepared in parallel. While typical nucleosomes were revealed with all the techniques for chromatin from the latter three cell system, no nucleosomes were identified in either the lampbrush chromosome structures or the nucleolar chromatin. Nucleosomal arrays were absent not only in maximally fibril-covered matrix units but also in fibril-free regions between transcriptional complexes, including the apparent spacer intercepts between different transcriptional units. Moreover, comparisons of the length of the repeating units of rDNA in the transcribed state with those determined in the isolated rDNA and with the lengths of the first stable product of rDNA transcription, the pre-rRNA, demonstrated that the transcribed rDNA was not significantly shortened and/or condensed but rather extended in the transcriptional units. Distinct granules of about nucleosomal size which were sometimes found in apparent spacer regions as well as within matrix units of reduced fibril density were shown not to represent nucleosomes since their number per spacer unit was not inversely correlated with the length of the specific unit and also on the basis of their resistance to treatment with the detergent Sarkosyl NL-30. It is possible to structurally distinguish between transcriptionally active chromatin in which the DNA is extended in a non-nucleosomal form of chromatin and condensed, inactive chromatin within the typical nucleosomal package. The characteristic extended structure of transcriptionally active chromatin is found not only in the transcribed genes but also in non-transcribed regions within or between ("spacer") transcriptional units as well as in transcriptional units that are untranscribed amidst transcribed ones and/or have been inactivated for relatively short time. It is hypothesized that activation of transcription involves a transition from a nucleosomal to an extended chromatin organisation and that this structural transition is not specific for single "activated" genes but may involve larger chromatin regions, including adjacent untranscribed intercepts. KW - Cytologie KW - Chromatin structure KW - nucleosomes KW - transcription KW - electron microscopy Y1 - 1976 U6 - http://nbn-resolving.de/urn/resolver.pl?urn:nbn:de:bvb:20-opus-40646 ER - TY - CHAP A1 - Franke, Werner W. A1 - Scheer, Ulrich A1 - Trendelenburg, Michael F. A1 - Zentgraf, H. A1 - Spring, H. T1 - Morphology of transcriptionally active chromatin N2 - Some decades ago it was noted by cytologists that within the interphase nucleus large portions of the transcriptionally ("genetically," in their terms) inactive chromosomal material are contained in aggregates of condensed chromatin, the "chromocenters," whereas transcriptionally active regions of chromosomes appear in a more dispersed form and are less intensely stained with DNA-directed staining procedures (Heitz 1929, 1932, 1956; Bauer 1933). The hypothesis that condensed chromatin is usually characterized by very low or no transcriptional activity, and that transcription occurs in loosely packed forms of chromatin (including, in most cells, the nucleolar chromatin) has received support from studies of ultrathin sections in the electron microscope and from the numerous attempts to separate transcriptionally active from inactive chromatin biochemically (for references, see Anderson et al. 1975; Berkowitz and Doty 1975; Krieg and Wells 1976; Rickwood and Birnie 1976; Gottesfeld 1977). Electron microscopic autoradiography has revealed that sites of RNA synthesis are enriched in dispersed chromatin regions located at the margins of condensed chromatin (Fakan and Bernhard 1971, 1973; Bouteille et al. 1974; Bachellerie et al. 1975) and are characterized by the occurrence of distinct granular and fibrillar ribonucleoprotein (RNP) structures, such as perichromatin granules and fibrils. The discovery that, in most eukaryotic nuclei, major parts of the chromatin are organized in the form of nucleosomes (Olins and Olins 1974; Kornberg 1974; Baldwin et al. 1975) has raised the question whether the same nucleosomal packing of DNA is also present in transcriptionally active chromatin strands. Recent detailed examination of the morphology of active and inactive chromatin involving a diversity of electron microscopic methods, particularly the spreading technique by Miller and coworkers (Miller and Beatty 1969; Miller and Bakken 1972), has indicated that the DNA of some actively transcribed regions is not packed into nucleosomal particles but is present in a rather extended form within a relatively thin (4-7 nm) chromatin fiber. Y1 - 1978 U6 - http://nbn-resolving.de/urn/resolver.pl?urn:nbn:de:bvb:20-opus-41097 ER -