life inspired

"The three-dimensional structure of the human genome has been mapped. Job Dekker of the University of Massachusetts Medical School in Worcester, Eric Lander of the Broad Institute in Cambridge, Massachusetts, and their co-workers identified segments of the genome that tend to sit close together. [...] The team found that each chromosome weaves between two compartments: one contains active genes; the other, more compact compartment houses inactive stretches of the genome. On a larger scale, the chromosomes are tightly packed into a 'fractal globule' (pictured) that remains unknotted to allow easy access to genes."

Labels: genomics, molecular structure