title: Chromatin structure of human chromosomal fragile sites.
abstract: Cytological appearance of fragile sites as non-staining gaps in metaphase chromosomes suggests an abnormality in chromatin structure. Studies of fragile sites at three levels of chromosome organization: (1) examining the ability of DNA derived from fragile sites to form nucleosomes-the basic structural element of chromosomes, (2) probing the arrangement of nucleosome arrays over fragile sites in fragile site-expressing cell lines, and (3) visualizing fragile sites in higher-order chromatin organization, reveal an unusual chromatin structure associated with fragile sites. This fragile site-associated chromatin structure might play an active role in DNA metabolic processes such as replication, transcription, repair and recombination, which are closely linked to the instability of fragile sites.
authors.affiliation: Department of Biochemistry, Robert Wood Johnson Medical School, University of Medicine and Dentistry of New Jersey, 675 Hoes Lane, Piscataway, NJ 08854, USA.
authors.forename: Yuh-Hwa
authors.initials: YH
authors.lastname: Wang
mesh_terms: D000818:Animals; D002843:Chromatin / Q000737:chemistry*; D043283:Chromosome Fragile Sites / Q000235:genetics*; D002873:Chromosome Fragility / Q000235:genetics*; D006801:Humans; D009707:Nucleosomes / Q000235:genetics*
chemical_list: D002843:Chromatin; D009707:Nucleosomes