NORs on human acrocentric chromosome p-arms are active by default and can associate with nucleoli independently of rDNA.

ABSTRACT: Nucleoli, the sites of ribosome biogenesis and the largest structures in human nuclei, form around nucleolar organizer regions (NORs) comprising ribosomal DNA (rDNA) arrays. NORs are located on the p-arms of the five human acrocentric chromosomes. Defining the rules of engagement between these p-arms and nucleoli takes on added significance as describing the three-dimensional organization of the human genome represents a major research goal. Here we used fluorescent in situ hybridization (FISH) and immuno-FISH on metaphase chromosomes from karyotypically normal primary and hTERT-immortalized human cell lines to catalog NORs in terms of their relative rDNA content and activity status. We demonstrate that a proportion of acrocentric p-arms in cell lines and from normal human donors have no d

SUBMITTER: van Sluis M 

PROVIDER: S-EPMC7229746 | biostudies-literature | 2020 May

REPOSITORIES: biostudies-literature