Replicon clusters may form structurally stable complexes of chromatin and chromosomes

Abstract

Nuclear DNA replication was monitored 'in situ' in pea nuclei with the bromodeoxyuridine antibody technique. The labelling appeared to be restricted to a number of finely distinct spots. The labelling was followed through three subsequent cell cycles in meristematic and differentiating pea root cells. The results show that the spots as seen just after the labelling persist distinctly over the mitotic chromosomes as well as in the nuclei of the following cell cycles up to 44 hours after the pulse. Moreover, they are also present in the nuclei of differentiating cells. The spots over the mitotic chromosomes in specific cases give rise to a dynamic banding. Nuclei of the second and third cycle show absence of labelling in specific zones, owing to the segregation of the labelled strands of chromosomal DNA. The maintenance of the spotted appearance of the replication clusters through all stages of the three subsequent cell cycles may be an indication in favour of the hypothesis that such clusters represent structurally stable replicon complexes held together by the nuclear matrix and the chromosome scaffold.