Chromosome structure and the C-value paradox

Abstract

This review will focus on a few selected aspects of chromosome organization, in particular the question of uninemy, the nature of heterochromatin, chromatin compaction, and sequence organization of repetitive genes. An attempt is made to put findings from the past 25 years into context. The C-value paradox will provide a partial link in the story. Several times during this period it seemed that the paradox could be explained away, but each time the explanation was invalidated by new information. The unexpectedly large and variable amount of DNA in eukaryotic genomes remains a major complicating feature in understanding chromosome organization.