The nuclear matrix and chromosomal DNA loops: is their any correlation between partitioning of the genome into loops and functional domains?

Abstract

In this paper we are presenting a critical analysis of the results of experiments aimed to elucidate the principles of the eukaryotic genome structural-functional organization. Although the DNA loops attached to the nuclear matrix (chromosomal scaffold) are frequently considered as independent functional domains, this supposition lack experimental proofs as far as the transcriptional domains are concerned. On the contrary, many observations indicate that organization of chromosomal DNA into loops is directly related to the replicon structure of the genome.