Chromosomes articles from across Nature Portfolio

Genome structure exhibits significant plasticity, enabling it to tolerate alterations induced by chromosome fusions. Here, authors introduce a K-matrix approach to visualise genome structure and analyse chromosome movements, providing further evidence for the principle of genome organisation homeostasis.

Mice models often fail to reflect human telomere biology. Here, the authors engineer a mouse strain with a humanized mTert gene, restoring telomere length regulation to a human-like pattern. This model might provide insights into aging and cancer.

Telomere shortening causes replicative senescence but affects population growth in a complex manner. Here, the authors develop a mathematical model calibrated on yeast single-cell data which simulates cell populations undergoing senescence to gain insights into structural and dynamic properties.

Telomeres and centromeres are specialized chromosomal regions with distinct functions. Here, the authors uncover a long-distance molecular communication between these key regions, coordinating the formation of the telomere bouquet and the initiation of the meiotic program.

Centromeres are silenced in aged cells by the epigenetic downregulation of centromere transcription.

Intriguing findings in yeast suggested that centromeres ‘tag’ DNA as self and allow its condensation during mitosis; vice versa, if a certain DNA is condensed during mitosis, it harbours a centromere.

Combining genomics data from the TRACERx non-small-cell lung cancer (NSCLC) cohort and experimental data, we report that alterations in FAT1 are selected early during lung cancer evolution and cause chromosomal instability and whole-genome doubling.

In this Tools of the Trade article, Carly Tyer describes the development of Telo-seq, a method to enrich and sequence all telomeres within a sample, and highlights its use in distinguishing between the two telomere maintenance mechanisms used in cancer cells.