TY - JOUR
T1 - Constitutive heterochromatin
T2 - A surprising variety of expressed sequences
AU - Dimitri, Patrizio
AU - Caizzi, Ruggiero
AU - Giordano, Ennio
AU - Carmela Accardo, Maria
AU - Lattanzi, Giovanna
AU - Biamonti, Giuseppe
PY - 2009
Y1 - 2009
N2 - The organization of chromosomes into euchromatin and heterochromatin is amongst the most important and enigmatic aspects of genome evolution. Constitutive heterochromatin is a basic yet still poorly understood component of eukaryotic chromosomes, and its molecular characterization by means of standard genomic approaches is intrinsically difficult. Although recent evidence indicates that the presence of transcribed genes in constitutive heterochromatin is a conserved trait that accompanies the evolution of eukaryotic genomes, the term heterochromatin is still considered by many as synonymous of gene silencing. In this paper, we comprehensively review data that provide a clearer picture of transcribed sequences within constitutive heterochromatin, with a special emphasis on Drosophila and humans.
AB - The organization of chromosomes into euchromatin and heterochromatin is amongst the most important and enigmatic aspects of genome evolution. Constitutive heterochromatin is a basic yet still poorly understood component of eukaryotic chromosomes, and its molecular characterization by means of standard genomic approaches is intrinsically difficult. Although recent evidence indicates that the presence of transcribed genes in constitutive heterochromatin is a conserved trait that accompanies the evolution of eukaryotic genomes, the term heterochromatin is still considered by many as synonymous of gene silencing. In this paper, we comprehensively review data that provide a clearer picture of transcribed sequences within constitutive heterochromatin, with a special emphasis on Drosophila and humans.
UR - http://www.scopus.com/inward/record.url?scp=67649499976&partnerID=8YFLogxK
UR - http://www.scopus.com/inward/citedby.url?scp=67649499976&partnerID=8YFLogxK
U2 - 10.1007/s00412-009-0211-y
DO - 10.1007/s00412-009-0211-y
M3 - Article
C2 - 19412619
AN - SCOPUS:67649499976
VL - 118
SP - 419
EP - 435
JO - Chromosoma
JF - Chromosoma
SN - 0009-5915
IS - 4
ER -