Super-resolution, multicolor imaging of chromatin structures in the interphase nucleus

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Fission yeast has been a classical model organism for gene silencing. However, little is known about its chromatin structure due to the small size of the genome. Here we used super-resolution fluorescence microscopy to observe condensation levels of interphase chromatin in fission yeast. Unexpectedly silent chromatin is less condensed than the rest of euchromatin in fission yeast. Furthermore, the subtelomeric silent regions are flanked by highly condensed, but non-silencing chromatin body, which we named as knob. The regions of knob span for about 50 kb devoid of methylated histones. Knob condensation was independent from HP1 homolog swi6. The unusual chromatin structure indicates that gene silencing in fission yeast is not a direct consequence of chromatin condensation.