Manipulating chromosomes in living cells reveals that they are fluid

Artist's  view of the mechanical manipulation of a chromosome ©Veer I. P. Keizer - Chromosomes are fluid - almost liquid - outside their division phases. This discovery was made possible thanks to the direct mechanical manipulation, for the very first time, of chromosomes in the nucleus of living cells. Until then, chromosomes - which are very long DNA molecules - were represented as being entangled like loose balls of yarn, and forming a sort of gel. The observations reported in this new publication offer a very different image. Fluid and able to move freely, chromosomes are not restricted by other elements that make up the nucleus, and are able to reorganise themselves. To reach these conclusions published in Science , scientists from CNRS, Institut Curie and Sorbonne Université, working in the Nuclear Dynamics , Physical Chemistry and Cell Biology and Cancer 1 laboratories, in collaboration with scientists from MIT, attached magnetic nanoparticles to a small portion of a chromosome in a living cell.