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© The Rockefeller University Press, 0021-9525/1999//215 $5.00
The Journal of Cell Biology, Volume 145, Number 2, , 1999 215-223

Regular Articles

Elasticity Measurements Show the Existence of Thin Rigid Cores Inside Mitotic Chromosomes



Bahram Houchmandzadeh* and Stefan Dimitrov{ddagger}

* CNRS, Laboratoire Spectromètrie Physique, BP87, 38402 St. Martin d'Hères Cedex, France; and {ddagger} Laboratoire de Biologie Moléculaire et Cellulaire de la Différenciation, INSERM U 309, Institut Albert Bonniot, Domaine de la Merci, 38706 La Tronche, Cedex, France

Chromosome condensation is one of the most critical steps during cell division. However, the structure of condensed mitotic chromosomes is poorly understood. In this paper we describe a new approach based on elasticity measurements for studying the structure of in vitro assembled mitotic chromosomes in Xenopus egg extract. The approach is based on a unique combination of measurements of both longitudinal deformability and bending rigidity of whole chromosomes. By using specially designed micropipettes, the chromosome force–extension curve was determined. Analysis of the curvature fluctuation spectrum allowed for the measurement of chromosome bending ridigity. The relationship between the values of these two parameters is very specific: the measured chromosome flexibility was found to be 2,000 times lower than the flexibility calculated from the experimentally determined Young modulus. This requires the chromosome structure to be formed of one or a few thin rigid elastic axes surrounded by a soft envelope. The properties of these axes are well-described by models developed for the elasticity of titin-like molecules. Additionally, the deformability of in vitro assembled chromosomes was found to be very similar to that of native somatic chromosomes, thus demonstrating the existence of an essentially identical structure.

Key Words: mitotic chromosome structure • elasticity • flexural rigidity • in vitro assembled chromosomes

This research was supported by the Centre National de Recherche Scientifique.


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