Christoph Cremer and Thomas Cremer 40 years of joint ... - TLB

chromatin organization at any stage of interphase.
To which extent ~1Mb CDs persist as indivdidual entitities during the transformation
of CTs into mitotic chromosomes and into nuclei of the next cell generation remains
to be established. The structure of ~1Mb CDs has not yet been resolved, but we
argue that each ~1Mb CD is built up from a series of ~100 kb chromatin domains
(~100 kb CDs), i.e. more or less compacted chromatin loop domains with a DNA
content in the order of 100 kb.
Direct contacts between neighboring ~1Mb CDs provide ample opportunities for
interactions in cis (within a given CT) or trans (between neighboring CTs),
including the formation of intra- and interchromosomal rearrangements.
The perichromatin region (PR) represents an about 100 nm thick layer of
decondensed chromatin, located at the periphery of CDs. It constitutes the nuclear
compartment for transcription, splicing, DNA-replication and possibly also DNArepair
and separates the highly compact, transcriptionally silent interior of CDs
from the IC.
Accordingly the 3D organization of a CT can be compared with a sponge built up
from a 3D network of chromatin domains permeated by the IC. It should be noted
that constrained Brownian movements of CDs in the nucleus of living cells result in
continuous changes of the width of IC channels providing dynamic opportunities
for normal or pathological interactions.
The interior of IC lacunas is free of chromatin and harbors nuclear bodies and
splicing speckles. This structural organization allows direct functional interactions
between the IC and the PR, such as the delivery of splicing components from splicing
speckles to sites of co-transcriptional splicing.
For Reviews see:
Cremer C, Cremer T (1971) 4Π Punkthologramme: Physikalische Grundlagen und mögliche
Anwendungen. Enclosure to Patent application DE 2116521 „Verfahren zur Darstellung bzw.
Modifikation von Objekt-Details, deren Abmessungen außerhalb der sichtbaren Wellenlängen
liegen" (Procedure for the imaging and modification of object details with dimensions beyond the
visible wavelengths). Filed April 5, 1971; publication date October 12, 1972.Deutsches Patentamt,
Berlin.
Cremer T, Cremer C (2001) Chromosome Territories Nuclear Architecture and Gene
Regulation in Mammalian Cells. Nature Reviews Genetics 2: 292-301.
Cremer T, Cremer C (2006) Rise, fall and resurrection of chromosome territories: a historical
perspective. Part I. The rise of chromosome territories. Eur J Histochem 50: 161-176.
Cremer, T, Cremer C (2006) Rise, fall and resurrection of chromosome territories: a historical
perspective. Part II. Fall and resurrection of chromosome territories during the 1950s to 1980s. Part
III. Chromosome territories and the functional nuclear architecture: experiments and models from the
1990s to the present. Eur J Histochem 50: 223-272.
Markaki Y, Gunkel M, Schermelleh L, Beichmanis S, Neumann J, Heidemann M, Leonhardt H,
Eick D,Cremer C, Cremer T (2010) Functional nuclear organization of transcription and DNA
replication: a topographical marriage between chromatin domains and the interchromatin
compartment. Cold Spring Harb. Sym. Quant. Biol. 75: 475-492.
Christoph & Thomas Cremer, 40 years of joint research 2