Atomic force microscopy for imaging human metaphase chromosomes
Atomic force microscopy for imaging human metaphase chromosomes
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DOI：
10.1007/s10577-008-1241-7
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发表时间：
2008-05-01
影响因子：
2.6
通讯作者：
Hoshi, Osamu
中科院分区：
文献类型：
--
作者：
Ushiki, Tatsuo;Hoshi, Osamu
本文介绍了原子力显微镜（AFM）的基本原理，并综述了我们用AFM对人类中期染色体的研究结果。原子力显微镜成像的染色体显示，染色单体臂是不均匀的结构，但有脊和槽沿着其长度，这是最突出的中期后期。这些脊和槽的排列与成对的姐妹染色单体的对应物大致对称。带化染色体的AFM图像还显示脊和槽分别与G/Q阳性和G/Q阴性带相关。在高倍镜下，染色单体是由高度扭曲的染色质纤维环压缩产生的，其压缩倾向于在染色体的脊状区域比槽状区域更强。我们的原子力显微镜研究还表明，在晚中期的染色单体的脊状部分之间的染色质纤维链的存在。因此，原子力显微镜是有用的，不仅在环境条件下，而且在生理液体条件下获得的三维表面形貌，并有望成为一个有吸引力的工具，研究染色体的结构。
The present study introduces the principle of atomic force microscopy (AFM) and reviews our results of human metaphase chromosomes obtained by AFM. AFM imaging of the chromosomes revealed that the chromatid arm was not uniform in structure but had ridges and grooves along its length, which was most prominent in the late metaphase. The arrangement of these ridges and grooves was roughly symmetrical with the counterpart of the paired sister chromatids. AFM imaging of banded chromosomes also showed that the ridges and grooves were related to the G/Q-positive and G/Q-negative bands, respectively. At high magnification, the chromatid was seen to be produced by the compaction of highly twisted chromatin fiber loops, and its compaction tended to be stronger in the ridged regions of the chromosomes than in the grooved regions. Our AFM studies also showed the presence of catenation of chromatin fibers between the ridged portions of the chromatid in the late metaphase. Thus, AFM is useful for obtaining the three-dimensional surface topography not only in ambient conditions but also in physiological liquid conditions, and is expected to be an attractive tool for investigating the structure of chromosomes.