Published at: Genome Biology, vol. 5, no. 7, r44 (June 21, 2004).
doi:10.1186/gb-2004-5-7-r44
http://genomebiology.com/2004/5/7/r44


"Tissue-specific spatial organization of genomes"

Luis A Parada 1 , Philip G McQueen 2,  and Tom Misteli 1

1 National Cancer Institute, National Institutes of Health, Bethesda, MD 20892, USA
2 Mathematical and Statistical Laboratory, Division of Computational Biology, Center for Information Technology, National Institutes of Health, Bethesda, MD 20892, USA

Correspondence: Tom Misteli. E-mail:    mistelit@mail.nih.gov

© 2004 Parada et al.; licensee BioMed Central Ltd. This is an Open Access article: verbatim copying and redistribution of this article are permitted in all media for any purpose, provided this notice is preserved along with the article's original URL.



NetworkEditor's Perspective: "Chromosomes Find Each Other".
Abstract:
Background:
Results and Discussion:
   Fig. 1: Tissue-specific radial positioning of chromosomes:
   Table 1: Relative interchromosome distances:
   Fig. 2: Tissue-specific distances between chromosomes:
   Fig. 3: Tissue-specific relative positioning of chromosomes 12, 14 and 15:
   Fig. 4: Correlation with tissue specific translocation frequency:
Materials and Methods:
Additional Data Files:
Acknowledgements:
References:
Additional References:
Other Links:
Further Information and Feedback:


Abstract:
                        Background

                         Genomes are organized in vivo in the form of chromosomes. Each chromosome
                         occupies a distinct nuclear subvolume in the form of a chromosome territory. The
                         spatial positioning of chromosomes within the interphase nucleus is often nonrandom.
                         It is unclear whether the nonrandom spatial arrangement of chromosomes is
                         conserved among tissues or whether spatial genome organization is tissue-specific.

                        Results

                         Using two-dimensional and three-dimensional fluorescence in situ hybridization we
                         have carried out a systematic analysis of the spatial positioning of a subset of mouse
                         chromosomes in several tissues. We show that chromosomes exhibit tissue-specific
                         organization. Chromosomes are distributed tissue-specifically with respect to their
                         position relative to the center of the nucleus and also relative to each other. Subsets
                         of chromosomes form distinct types of spatial clusters in different tissues and the
                         relative distance between chromosome pairs varies among tissues. Consistent with
                         the notion that nonrandom spatial proximity is functionally relevant in determining the
                         outcome of chromosome translocation events, we find a correlation between
                         tissue-specific spatial proximity and tissue-specific translocation prevalence.

                        Conclusions

                         Our results demonstrate that the spatial organization of genomes is tissue-specific
                         and point to a role for tissue-specific spatial genome organization in the formation of
                         recurrent chromosome arrangements among tissues.



Background:

                         Chromosomes represent the largest structural units of eukaryotic genomes. The
                         physically distinct nature of each chromosome is clearly visible during mitosis, when
                         chromosomes condense and appear as separate entities. Chromosome-painting
                         techniques have demonstrated that chromosomes are also physically separated
                         during interphase, when each chromosome occupies a well defined nuclear
                         subvolume, referred to as a chromosome territory [1, 2]. The positioning of
                         chromosomes during interphase is generally nonrandom [1, 3, 4]. In cells of plants with
                         large genomes and of Drosophila melanogaster, centromeres and telomeres are
                         positioned at opposite sides of the nucleus, giving rise to a chromosome arrangement
                         known as the Rabl configuration [1, 3, 5]. In mammalian cells this pattern of genome
                         organization is rare; instead, the spatial organization of chromosomes can be
                         described by their radial positioning relative to the center of the nucleus [1, 3, 6]. In
                         human lymphocytes, the radial positioning of chromosomes correlates with their gene
                         density, with gene-dense chromosomes located towards the center of the nucleus
                         and gene-poor chromosomes preferentially located towards the periphery [7, 8].
                         Remarkably, the preferential radial positioning of at least two chromosomes, 18 and
                         19, has been evolutionarily conserved over 30 million years [9]. In addition to radial
                         positioning, the nonrandom nature of genome organization is also reflected in the
                         positioning of chromosomes relative to each other [10]. For example, in a lymphoma
                         cell line derived from an ATM-/- mouse, two translocated chromosomes are
                         preferentially positioned in close proximity to each other and the three chromosomes
                         from which the translocations originated from a close-packed cluster in normal
                         lymphocytes [10]. This type of nonrandom relative positioning has been proposed to
                         facilitate formation of translocations by increasing the probability of illegitimate joining
                         of broken chromosome ends of proximally positioned chromosomes [3, 11, 12].

                         While it is now well established that chromosomes are nonrandomly positioned
                         [3, 13, 14], it is unclear how similar the spatial organization of the genome is in
                         different tissues. Analysis of the radial positions of chromosomes 18 and 19 in
                         different cell types failed to find significant differences [15]. Furthermore, a comparison
                         of the distribution of several chromosomes in tissue-cultured fibroblasts and
                         lymphoblasts gave mixed results: the position of several chromosomes appeared to
                         be largely conserved between the two cell types, but on the other hand,
                         chromosomes 6, 8, and 21 were positioned differently [7]. In both studies only radial
                         positioning was used as a single indicator and distributions were not directly
                         compared to each other by statistical means [7, 15]. In an attempt to probe the spatial
                         arrangement of chromosomes among tissues more systematically, we report here the
                         comparative mapping of a subset of chromosomes in the cell nucleus of several cell
                         types. From statistical analysis of several positioning criteria, including radial
                         positioning, relative positioning, distance measurements and chromosome cluster
                         analysis, we report evidence for tissue-specificity in the spatial organization of
                         genomes.

Results and discussion:

                         We sought to investigate the nuclear position of chromosomes 1, 5, 6, 12, 14 and 15
                         in a range of primary cells freshly isolated from mouse tissues. We visualized single
                         chromosomes by fluorescence in situ hybridization (FISH) using chromosome-specific
                         probes and analyzed their position in normal interphase cells containing a diploid
                         complement of fluorescent signals (Figure 1).

Fig. 1: Tissue-specific radial positioning of chromosomes.

(a) FISH analysis of chromosome 5 (green)
 in liver, lymphocytes and lung cell nuclei. DNA counterstaining with DAPI is in blue.
 Chromosome 5 is preferentially enriched in the nuclear interior in liver, within the medial
 nuclear subvolume in lymphocytes, and at the nuclear periphery in lung cells. Scale bar, 2 mm.

(b) Quantitation of the radial distribution of chromosomes in different cell types. Data was
 binned in five concentric shells of equal volume designated 1 to 5 from the center of the
 nucleus to the periphery. (c) Pairwise comparison of chromosome radial distribution using
 contingency table analysis. p-values < 0.05 (yellow/red) were considered significant. Ki,
 kidney; Li, liver; LL, large lung cells; Ly, lymphoblasts; My, myeloblasts; SL, small lung cells.
 Between 41 and 180 cells were analyzed per tissue.



                         Freshly isolated and minimally cultured
                         primary cell populations were used to prevent potential reorganization of
                         chromosomes during prolonged in vitro culture. Qualitative inspection of the
                         distribution of painted chromosomes indicated tissue specificity in chromosome
                         positioning (Figure 1a). For example, chromosome 5 was preferentially found towards
                         the center of the nucleus in liver cells, was predominantly peripheral in small and large
                         lung cells, but was located in an intermediate position in lymphocytes (Figure 1a).

                         For quantitative analysis of positioning, we first measured the distance between the
                         nuclear center and the center of mass of each chromosome signal as an indicator of
                         its radial position in two-dimensional (2D) projections of three-dimensional (3D) image
                         stacks as previously described (Figure 1b; see also Materials and methods) [8, 11].
                         The distribution profiles of chromosomes showed considerable differences among
                         tissues (Figure 1b). Statistical analysis of pairwise comparisons of the distribution of
                         single chromosomes using contingency table analysis among all tissues revealed
                         highly significant differential radial positioning (Figure 1c). Differential positioning in at
                         least three cell types was found for all chromosomes analyzed (Figure 1b,c). Out of 71
                         pairwise comparisons, 34 were statistically significant at the p < 0.05 level (Figure 1c).
                         Most cell types shared positioning of some, but not other chromosomes. For example,
                         small lung cells and liver cells shared the position of chromosomes 12 and 14 (all
                         p-values > 0.5), but not of chromosomes 5, 6 and 15 (Figure 1b,c; all p-values < 3.1 ×
                         10-4). The most similar distribution of chromosomes was found in cell types sharing
                         common differentiation pathways. Large and small lung cells shared the distribution of
                         all chromosomes, and lymphoblasts and myeloblasts only differed in the positioning of
                         chromosome 5 (p = 0.02) (Figure 1b,1c). As previously reported, the radial distribution
                         within a cell type differed significantly among all chromosomes and most radial
                         distributions were distinct from a uniform random distribution [7, 8] (Figure 1b). Similar
                         results were obtained in cells fixed with either paraformaldehyde or methanol. We
                         conclude from these comparisons that the radial positioning of chromosomes within
                         the interphase nucleus is tissue-specific.

                         To investigate the relative spatial relationship between chromosomes in different cell
                         types, we first measured distances between the closest pair of nonhomologous
                         chromosomes in each cell nucleus (Table 1, Figure 2).

Table 1: Relative interchromosome distances

*Pairwise absolute measurements of distances between the closest pair of non-homologous chromosomes are expressed as relative distances normalized to the nuclear diameter to account for differences in nuclear size. †The nuclear area in an equatorial image plane was used as an indicator of nuclear size. n = number of cells analyzed.


Fig. 2: Tissue-specific distances between chromosomes. Average minimum separations between the
 most proximal pairs of nonhomologous chromosomes were compared pairwise using the
 Kolmogorov-Smirnov test.

(a) Chromosome pair 1-12; (b) 1-14; (c) 1-15; (d) 12-14; (e)
 12-15; (f) 14-15; (g) 5-6. p-values < 0.05 (yellow/red) were considered significant.
 Abbreviations as in Figure 1. Between 41 and 180 cells were analyzed per tissue.


                         Absolute distances between
                         chromosomes were measured in 2D projections of 3D image stacks and expressed as
                         relative distances normalized to the nuclear diameter to take into account the
                         variations in nuclear size among tissues. We find significant differences in the physical
                         separation of six out of seven chromosome pairs among cell types (Table 1, Figure 2).
                         For example, the closest homologs of chromosomes 12 and 14 were separated by
                         24.5% of the nuclear diameter in lymphocytes, whereas they were only separated by
                         19.4% in liver cells. This difference is statistically highly significant in a
                         Kolmogorov-Smirnov test (p = 1.1 × 10-6). Similarly, chromosomes 5 and 6 were
                         separated by 25.0% of nuclear diameter in small lung cells, but by only 17.7% in liver
                         cells (p = 1.3 × 10-3) (Table 1, Figure 2). While most chromosome pairs had
                         statistically distinct separation distances in several tissues, chromosomes 1 and 12
                         appeared to be more conserved in their relative positions (Figure 2). The differences
                         in chromosome distances were not due to differences in the size or shape of the cell
                         nucleus, as indicated by the shorter interchromosomal distances in kidney or large
                         lung cells compared to lymphocytes, whose nuclei are significantly smaller (Table 1)
                         [15]. Furthermore, no correlation between distances between chromosomes and
                         nucleus size was observed between large and small lung cells (Table 1).

                         A second, more direct criterion to test the relative positioning of chromosomes relative
                         to each other was used. Chromosomes 12, 14 and 15 have previously been reported
                         to have nonrandom relative positioning in lymphocytes where they form a
                         close-packed triplet cluster [10]. We used the spatial clustering of these chromosomes
                         to further probe the positioning of chromosomes relative to each other among tissues.

Fig. 3:  Tissue-specific relative positioning of chromosomes 12, 14 and 15. Quantitation of triplet
 cluster formation by determining for each tissue type the percentage of cells containing (a) no
 12-14-15 triplet clusters, (b) a single triplet cluster of exactly one chromosome 12, 14 and 15,
 (c) a single cluster of a pair of homologues and one additional chromosome, or (d) a cluster of
 homologues and more than one additional chromosome. Expected values based on random
 distribution of chromosomes are indicated by a dashed line. Between 41 and 180 cells were
 analyzed per tissue. (e) FISH analysis of different cell types for chromosome 12 (red), 14
 (blue), and 15 (green). Distinct preferential cluster types are found in different cell types. Scale
 bar, 1.8 mm.



 

                         For each tissue, we determined the percentages of cells containing: no 12-14-15
                         triplet clusters (Figure 3a); a single triplet cluster containing exactly one chromosome
                         12, 14 and 15 (Figure 3b); a single cluster made up of a pair of homologs and one
                         additional chromosome (Figure 3c); or a cluster containing a pair of homologs and
                         more than one additional chromosome (Figure 3d). As previously described, a cluster
                         was defined as a triplet where all chromosomes are separated by less than 30% of
                         the nuclear diameter [10]. Statistically significant quantitative differences in the
                         occurrence of the four types of chromosome clusters were detected among tissues by
                         contingency table analysis (Figure 3a-d, and see Additional data file 1).

                         Formation of distinct types of clusters was also evident by qualitative inspection
                         (Figure 3e). Almost 50% of large and small lung cells contained no obvious clusters
                         (Figure 3a). In contrast only around 20% of kidney and liver cells did not contain
                         clusters (Figure 3a). About 30% of lymphocytes and myeloblasts did not contain
                         clusters (Figure 3a). As previously reported, clusters containing exactly one copy of
                         chromosome 12, 14 and 15 were prevalent in lymphocytes with 35% of cells
                         containing such a cluster, but only 13% of liver cells, 17% of small lung cells and 19%
                         of kidney cells contained such a cluster (Figure 3b; 0.01<p < 0.05). Clusters containing
                         one homolog pair were more evenly distributed among tissues, but significant
                         differences were still found. Almost 30% of liver cells, but only 12-15% of small and
                         large lung cells and lymphocytes contained this type of arrangement (Figure 3c; p <
                         0.03 for all comparisons). Similarly, clusters simultaneously containing a nonhomolog
                         and a homolog pair were present at differentially frequencies among tissues. They
                         were found in around 36% of kidney and liver cells, but only in 11% of large lung cells
                         (4.2 × 10-4 <p < 5.9 × 10-4) and 15% in lymphocytes (Figure 3d; 0.08 <p < 0.09).
                         Statistical tests for triplet formation by contingency table analysis showed that the
                         majority of triplets were found at frequencies different from those expected on the
                         basis of a random distribution of chromosomes (Figure 3a-e, and see Additional data
                        file 1).

                         To test whether these differences in chromosome clusters were limited to the
                         12-14-15 triplet or were a general feature, we analyzed clusters containing
                         chromosomes 1-12-14, 1-14-15 and 1-12-15. Statistically significant differential
                         occurrence of relative positioning of chromosomes in triplets was found for all of these
                         chromosome combinations (see Additional data files 2-4). Similar results were
                         obtained when close chromosome pairs were defined as separated by 20% of the
                         nuclear diameter (data not shown). These observations strongly suggest that the
                         positioning of chromosomes relative to each other differs among tissues.

                         The degree of relative spatial proximity of chromosomes has previously been
                         implicated to be functionally relevant in formation of chromosome translocations in
                         blood cancers [3, 10-12, 16-18]. As translocations from different tumor tissues,
                         including both blood and epithelial tumors, are frequently characterized by
                         translocations between distinct sets of chromosomes [19], we asked whether the
                         observed differences in spatial chromosome arrangements may explain the formation
                         of tissue-specific translocations. To directly test this hypothesis we took advantage of
                         the differential translocation behavior of chromosome pairs 5, 6 and 12, 15 in mouse
                         lymphocytes and liver. Translocations between chromosomes 5 and 6 frequently occur
                         in mouse hepatomas but are not found in lymphomas; conversely, translocations
                         between 12 and 15 are prevalent in lymphomas but not in hepatomas [20, 21].
                         Qualitative inspection indicated that in hepatocytes, the translocation-prone
                         chromosomes 5 and 6 were more frequently in close physical proximity than
                         non-translocating chromosomes 12 and 15 (Figure 4a).

Fig. 4:  Tissue-specific relative chromosome positioning correlates with tissue specific translocation frequency.

(a) FISH analysis of chromosome 5 (green), 6 (red), 12 (green) and 15 (red) in
 hepatocytes or lymphocytes. Arrowheads indicate proximal pairs. Scale bar, 2 mm. Pairs of
 chromosomes 5-6 are more frequent than pairs of chromosomes 12-15 in hepatocytes,
 whereas the opposite is true in lymphocytes.

(b) Determination of the percentage of
 hepatocytes or lymphocytes containing at least one 5-6 or 12-15 pair. The likelihood of pair
 formation correlates with the observed tissue-specific translocation frequency among these
 chromosomes. Dotted lines represent expected values based on a uniform random
 distribution. Note that the expectation value of contingency tables is dependent on the
 number of analyzed cells. For analysis of 5-6 pairing, 83 hepatocytes and 118 lymphocytes
 were analyzed. For analysis of 12-15 pairing, 158 hepatocytes and 88 lymphocytes were
 analyzed.



                         In contrast, chromosomes 12
                         and 15 were frequently in close physical proximity in lymphocytes but not in
                         hepatocytes (Figure 4a). For quantitative analysis we determined the number of
                         hepatocytes or lymphocytes containing at least one close pair of either 5-6 or 12-15
                         (Figure 4a). A close pair was defined as two chromosomes separated by less than
                         20% of nuclear diameter and results were statistically analyzed by contingency table
                         analysis [10]. In hepatocytes, a close pair of the translocation-prone chromosomes
                         5-6 was found in 69% of cells, whereas only 55% of cells containing a pair of the
                         non-translocating chromosomes 12-15 (Figure 4b). This difference was significant at
                         the p = 4.0 × 10-2 level in a contingency table analysis. Conversely, 50% of
                         lymphocytes contained a pair of translocation-prone chromosomes 12-15 whereas
                         only 33% harbored a close pair of non-translocating 5-6 chromosomes (Figure 4b; p =
                         1.4 × 10-2). In addition, the frequency of 5-6 pairs in hepatocyte and 12-15 pairs in
                         lymphocytes was above the value expected for uniform randomly distributed
                         chromosomes, but below the expected values in the tissues where these
                         chromosomes do not translocate (Figure 4b). These findings confirm earlier
                         observations of preferential proximal positioning of translocation-prone loci in
                         lymphocytes [11], and extend them by demonstrating a correlation between
                         tissue-specific spatial proximity and tissue-specificity of translocations.

                         Our observations provide evidence for tissue-specific spatial organization of genomes
                         in the interphase cell nucleus. While we show here that a subset of mouse
                         chromosomes exhibits differential nuclear positioning among tissues, we suspect that
                         differential spatial organization is a general feature of most chromosomes. As radial
                         positioning of some chromosomes is evolutionarily conserved, tissue-specificity is likely
                         to occur in other species as well [9]. Patterns of chromosome arrangements were
                         more similar among tissue types that share differentiation pathways, suggesting that
                         chromosome positioning might be established during differentiation. As previously
                         reported [15], differences in chromosomes positioning were not due to variation in cell
                         size or shape among tissues, as, for example, the morphologically extremely distinct
                         small and large lung cells showed similar distribution patterns. Furthermore, although
                         changes in chromosome positioning have been reported for the G0/G1 transition, our
                         observed differences were unlikely to be due to cell-cycle effects, as chromosome
                         positioning does not significantly change during interphase in cycling cells [22-25]. We
                         suspect that our estimates of the differences in chromosome positions might be an
                         underestimate as it is possible that our isolated cell populations contain several cell
                         types, which might exhibit distinct chromosome positions. A more detailed future
                         analysis of distinct cell types in the context of intact tissues will be insightful to
                         address this issue.

                         The functional significance of tissue-specific spatial genome organization in gene
                         expression remains unclear. It is possible that the positioning of chromosomes into
                         particular nuclear neighborhoods might expose gene loci to local concentrations of
                        specific regulatory factors or might place loci into a transcriptionally silent
                         heterochromatic environment [3, 26, 27]. This model is consistent with the observed
                         peripherization of immunoglobulin loci during lymphocyte development and
                         repositioning of several differentiation-stage-specific gene loci away from centromeres
                         during B-cell differentiation [28-30]. Although a previous analysis of radiation-induced
                         random translocations in human lymphocytes yielded no positive evidence for
                         preferential relative positioning of chromosomes [4], several reports support a
                         functional link between nonrandom relative positioning and formation of
                         translocations. A number of translocation-prone chromosomes and gene loci have
                         been shown to be in preferential spatial proximity to their translocation partners in
                         normal cells before translocation events [10-12, 14, 16, 17]. Our observations support
                         this notion and extend it by demonstrating a correlation between tissue-specific
                         spatial organization and tissue-specific translocation frequency. This result suggests
                         that the distinct spatial organization of genomes in normal tissues contributes to the
                         tissue-specificity of prevalent translocations.

                         It is unclear at present how patterns of chromosome arrangements are established
                         and maintained. One possibility is that the nucleus contains specific structural
                         components that determine genome organization. Tissue-specificity of genome
                         organization could be established by regulated expression of structural proteins such
                         SATB1, a thymocyte-specific protein that has been proposed to regulate
                         thymocyte-specific genes by tethering chromatin regions onto a structural nuclear
                         scaffold [31]. An intriguing alternative possibility is that the transcriptional status of
                         chromosome regions affects their structural properties and that the collective
                         transcriptional activity of a genome thus determines its arrangement in a
                         self-organizing manner based on the physical properties of the chromatin and the
                         interacting polymerases [32]. In our case, chromosomes 12 and 15 contain
                         nucleolar-organizing centers which might facilitate the preferential nonrandom
                         association of these chromosomes. Our observation of similarities in genome
                         organization in cell types with shared differentiation pathways is consistent with such
                        a self-organization model. Regardless of how the patterns are established, our
                         description of tissue-specific spatial genome patterns should be of use in further
                         experimental tests of these models as well as in understanding the functions and
                         mechanisms of nonrandom spatial genome organization.

Materials and methods:

                        Cell preparation

                         C57BL/6 mice (4-8 weeks old) were sacrificed and the relevant tissues recovered. For
                         lung and kidney samples the tissue was washed in RPMI 1640 medium and the tissue
                         minced with scalpels and enzymatically disaggregated by collagenase type IV. The
                         resulting cell suspension was washed twice by centrifugation in RPMI 1640 medium.
                         Cells were successively plated four times at 60-min intervals in medium consisting of
                         Dulbecco's MEM, supplemented with 10% fetal bovine serum, penicillin (100 IU/ml),
                         streptomycin (0.2 mg/ml), hydrocortisone (0.5 mg/ml), dibutyryl cAMP (10 nM), and 1%
                         insulin/transferrin/sodium selenite. The epithelial-enriched cell suspension was
                         seeded onto glass coverslips. After 24 h the coverslips were processed for FISH
                         analysis. Lymphocytes and granulocytes were isolated from spleen and thymus by
                         differential centrifugation in a gradient of Ficoll/sodium diatrizoate. Hepatocytes were
                         isolated by two-step collagenase perfusion of the liver followed by isodensity
                         centrifugation in Percoll. Cells were washed by centrifugation in isotonic
                         phosphate-buffered solution and cytocentrifuged (105 cells/ml) onto glass slides and
                         fixed in 4% paraformaldehyde.

                        Chromosome painting

                         Detailed protocols for FISH and probe generation are available online [33]. Briefly,
                         slides were hybridized for 48 h at 37°C in a moist chamber with a combination of
                         three painting probes at a time. Probes were prepared from flow-sorted chromosomes
                         by degenerate oligonucleotide-primed polymerase chain reaction (PCR) using biotin,
                         digoxigenin or Spectrum Red deoxyuridine nucleotides for labeling. Biotin and
                         digoxigenin-labeled probes were detected with streptavidin conjugated to Cy5 and
                         FITC-conjugated sheep anti-digoxigenin antibodies respectively. Specimens were
                         examined with a Nikon Eclipse E800 microscope equipped with epifluorescence optics
                         and a Photometrics MicroMax cooled CCD camera (1,300 × 1,300 array, 6.7 mm pixel
                         size, 5 MHz, image pixel size 80 nm).

                        Positioning measurements

                         Images of triple-labeled cell nuclei were generated and analyzed using MetaMorph
                         Imaging System 4.6 (Universal Imaging). All measurements were performed on
                         maximum projections of 10 focal planes covering the entire nucleus. All measurements
                         were done on unprocessed images without thresholding. For distance analysis the
                         perimeter of each cell as well as each chromosome were manually drawn on the
                         maximum projection and the center of mass determined automatically using
                         MetaMorph software. Chromosomes in the projections were visually compared to the
                         single focal planes to verify that the regions were representative of the entire
                         chromosome. The mean nuclear radii, and the center of mass of each chromosome
                         and nucleus were measured using MetaMorph software. Nuclear radii (Rn) and
                         diameters (Dn) were calculated from Rn = (A/pi)^ 0.5, where (A) is the nuclear pixel
                         area. Radial chromosome positions were calculated as [(Ch:C)/Rn × 100], where
                         (Ch:C) is the distance from the center of an individual chromosome to the nuclear
                         center. Cell nuclei were subdivided in five concentric shells of equal volume designated
                         1 to 5 from the center of the nucleus to the periphery. To measure relative
                         positioning, the absolute spatial separations between chromosome pair centers of
                         mass (Ch1:Ch2) were normalized as a fraction of nuclear diameter [(Ch1:Ch2)/Dn ×
                         100] to account for natural variations in nuclear size. For measurements of radial
                         positioning both homologs were scored separately. For distance measurements the
                         closest non-homolog pair was measured for each possible chromosome combination.

                        Statistical analysis

                         Analysis of radial and relative positioning were essentially performed as previously
                         described [10, 11]. To characterize specific trends in the radial distribution of
                         chromosomes, we conducted contingency table analysis with the null hypothesis that
                         a given chromosome has the same radial distribution in the two cell types being
                         compared [10, 11, 34, 35]. The bins used to generate contingency tables were defined
                         by the following boundaries: 0.0-33.98%, 33.98-48.79%, 49.79-61.51%,
                         61.61-73.91% and > 73.91% nuclear radius. Bins defined in this manner represent
                         volumes with equal probability of containing the same number of chromosomes
                         assuming a uniform random distribution of 40 spherical chromosomes of excluding
                         volume with a radius of 10% of the nuclear volume in a spherical nucleus. To test for
                         differences in average minimum separation of chromosome pairs between cell types
                         we applied the Kolmogorov-Smirnov test [36]. To test for differences in proximal triplet
                         formation, we constructed contingency tables for the frequencies of the
                         experimentally observed four categories of chromosome arrangements [34, 35].
                         Triplets were defined as a collection of three chromosome pairs all separated by less
                         than 30% of nuclear diameter [10]. The contingency table analysis tested the null
                         hypothesis that all four categories of chromosome arrangements are equally likely and
                         independent of the cell type. To determine tissue-specific proximity of translocation
                         partners we determined the frequencies of cells containing at least one close pair of
                         either 5-6 or 12-15 in lymphocytes and hepatocytes as previously described [11]. We
                         defined a close pair as two chromosomes located at a distance not larger that 20% of
                         the nuclear diameter. Frequencies of pair formation were analyzed analogously to the
                         triplet analysis using the null hypothesis that the number of close pairs in a given cell
                         type is independent of the identities of the chromosomes. All analyses were done
                         using standard algorithms coded in Java. For all experiments data from at least three
                         independent experiments was pooled.

Additional data files: http://genomebiology.com/2004/5/7/r44/suppl/s1

Additional data file 1: Contingency table for chromosomes 12, 14, and 15 triplet formation

Additional data file 2: Contingency table for chromosomes 1, 12 and 14 triplet formation

Additional data file 3: Contingency table for chromosomes 1, 12 and 15 triplet formation

Additional data file 4: Contingency table for chromosomes 1, 14 and 15 triplet formation

Acknowledgements:

We thank Jeff Roix for critical reading of the manuscript. T.M. is a fellow of the Keith. R. Porter Endowment for Cell Biology.

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NetworkEditor's Perspective: "Chromosomes Find Each Other."

In this new study by Luis Parada, Philip McQueen, and Tom Misteli, we see that mouse chromosomes associate during interphase in non-random tissue-specific patterns. These patterns can be measured from the nucleus center or from one chromosome to one or more other chromosomes. These data provide a strong suggestion that the transcription sites on each chromosome are interacting with transcription sites on other chromosomes, perhaps in a necessary manner.



Additional References:

1. Hovsepian JA, and Frenster JH, "Euchromatin as an Extensile Force within Mammalian Cell Nuclei".

2. Kreth G, Finsterle J, von Hase J, Cremer M, and Cremer C, "Radial Arrangement of Chromosome Territories in Human Cell Nuclei: A Computer Model Approach Based on Gene Density Indicates a Probabilistic Global Positioning Code".

3. Chambeyron S,  and Bickmore WA, "Chromatin decondensation and nuclear reorganization of the HoxB locus upon induction of transcription".

4. Frenster JH, and Hovsepian JA, "Activator RNA Exchange during Interphase Chromatin Reprogramming".



Further Topics in:  Euchromatin,  active DNA, and  RNA  ribo-regulators:

Links to Euchromatin Activator RNA Reviews:
Links to Euchromatin Activator RNA Research:
Links to Ultrastructural Probes of DNase I-Sensitive Sites:
Links to RNA as a Therapeutic Agent:
Links to Hodgkin Lymphoma Immuno-Pathology:
Links to Activated T-Lymphocyte Immunotherapy:
Links to Medical Systems Biology:
Links to RNA-Induced Epigenetics:
Links to Reprogramming and Neoplasia:

"Ultrastructural Probes of Active DNA Sites, and the RNA Activators of DNA".



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euchromatin: "the most active portion of the genome within the cell nucleus".