{"id":243779,"date":"2026-09-08T09:13:42","date_gmt":"2026-09-08T14:13:42","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/lifeboat.com\/blog\/2026\/09\/super-resolution-imaging-reveals-that-cohesin-prevents-local-mixing-of-compact-active-genome-domains"},"modified":"2026-09-08T09:13:42","modified_gmt":"2026-09-08T14:13:42","slug":"super-resolution-imaging-reveals-that-cohesin-prevents-local-mixing-of-compact-active-genome-domains","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/lifeboat.com\/blog\/2026\/09\/super-resolution-imaging-reveals-that-cohesin-prevents-local-mixing-of-compact-active-genome-domains","title":{"rendered":"Super-resolution imaging reveals that cohesin prevents local mixing of compact, active genome domains"},"content":{"rendered":"<p><a class=\"aligncenter blog-photo\" href=\"https:\/\/lifeboat.com\/blog.images\/super-resolution-imaging-reveals-that-cohesin-prevents-local-mixing-of-compact-active-genome-domains2.jpg\"><\/a><\/p>\n<p>The human genome is about two meters (6.6 feet) long, yet it is folded inside a cell nucleus only about 10 micrometers in diameter. To fit into this tiny space, DNA is wrapped around histone proteins to form nucleosomes, which are further organized into chromatin. For decades, chromatin has often been described in two simple forms: euchromatin, which is active, open and accessible, and heterochromatin, which is more compact and repressed.<\/p>\n<p>However, a new study from an international team led by Kazuhiro Maeshima, a professor at the National Institute of Genetics, ROIS (Research Organization of Information and Systems) and SOKENDAI, has challenged this simple textbook view. The researchers demonstrated that euchromatin in living human cells is not merely open and loose but forms dynamic condensed domains. This domain organization helps prevent the mixing of neighboring domains.<\/p>\n<p>The team further found that cohesin, a ring-shaped protein complex best known for organizing genome architecture, prevents local mixing between these condensed euchromatic domains for proper gene regulation in living human cells. The study was published in <i>Nature Genetics<\/i> on Sept. 8, 2026.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>The human genome is about two meters (6.6 feet) long, yet it is folded inside a cell nucleus only about 10 micrometers in diameter. To fit into this tiny space, DNA is wrapped around histone proteins to form nucleosomes, which are further organized into chromatin. For decades, chromatin has often been described in two simple [\u2026]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":662,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[11,412],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-243779","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-biotech-medical","category-genetics"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/lifeboat.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/243779","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/lifeboat.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/lifeboat.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/lifeboat.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/662"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/lifeboat.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=243779"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/lifeboat.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/243779\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/lifeboat.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=243779"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/lifeboat.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=243779"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/lifeboat.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=243779"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}