Open AccessCryo-nanoscale chromosome imaging—future prospects
Author(s) -
Mohammad Yusuf,
Safana Farooq,
Ian Robinson,
ElNasir Lalani
Publication year - 2020
Publication title -
biophysical reviews
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
SCImago Journal Rank - 1.766
H-Index - 39
eISSN - 1867-2469
pISSN - 1867-2450
DOI - 10.1007/s12551-020-00757-7
Subject(s) - mitosis , chromatin , nanotechnology , biology , microbiology and biotechnology , computational biology , materials science , genetics , dna
The high-order structure of mitotic chromosomes remains to be fully elucidated. How nucleosomes compact at various structural levels into a condensed mitotic chromosome is unclear. Cryogenic preservation and imaging have been applied for over three decades, keeping biological structures close to the native in vivo state. Despite being extensively utilized, this field is still wide open for mitotic chromosome research. In this review, we focus specifically on cryogenic efforts for determining the mitotic nanoscale chromatin structures. We describe vitrification methods, current status, and applications of advanced cryo-microscopy including future tools required for resolving the native architecture of these fascinating structures that hold the instructions to life.