euchromatin
Sign in to savethumb|300x300px|Distinction between Euchromatin and Heterochromatin Euchromatin (also called "open chromatin") is a lightly packed form of chromatin (DNA, RNA, and protein) that is enriched in genes, and is often (but not always) under active transcription. Euchromatin stands in contrast to heterochromatin, which is tightly packed and less accessible for transcription. 92% of the human genome is euchromatic.
~8 min read
Encyclopedic overview
9 sectionsContents
- Structure
- Appearance
- Function
- Transcription
- Epigenetics
- Regulation
- See also
- References
- Further reading
thumb|300x300px|Distinction between Euchromatin and Heterochromatin Euchromatin (also called "open chromatin") is a lightly packed form of chromatin (DNA, RNA, and protein) that is enriched in genes, and is often (but not always) under active transcription. Euchromatin stands in contrast to heterochromatin, which is tightly packed and less accessible for transcription. 92% of the human genome is euchromatic.
In eukaryotes, euchromatin comprises the most active portion of the genome within the cell nucleus. In prokaryotes, euchromatin is the only form of chromatin present; this indicates that the heterochromatin structure evolved later along with the nucleus, possibly as a mechanism to handle increasing genome size.
Excerpted from Wikipedia’s “euchromatin” article, available under the CC BY-SA 4.0 licence.