#cell nucleus

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Painting from Life

The cell nucleus is like a bustling capital city at night – thriving with lively traffic in complete darkness were it not for artificial light. Important decisions made inside can affect the life of the entire cell. Here researchers create maps of the organisation of the nucleus in human cells. They use an updated version of a technique called DNA-PAINT to label different nuclear molecules with tiny strands of DNA carrying different colours, blinking like street lights (although a million times smaller) when zapped with lasers from above. The yellow structures here are the chromatin protecting the genetic information, usually open and spread out so genes can be 'switched on' or transcribed to guide the cell. Here though, DNA-PAINT pictures the scene after transcription is blocked, watching as regions of the chromatin condense into spherical 'speckles'. Such details may help to explore nuclear life in health and disease.

Written by John Ankers

Image from work by Abhinav Banerjee, and Micky Anand, and colleagues

Department of Biochemistry, Indian Institute of Science, Malleswaram, Bangalore, India

Image originally published with a Creative Commons Attribution – NonCommercial – NoDerivs (CC BY-NC-ND 4.0)

Published in Nature Communications, April 2026

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[wayti-blog]

Microscopic Droplets Reveal DNA’s Secret Architecture

New ultra-detailed imaging exposes the hidden structure and behavior of chromatin condensates — and hints at how their failures may drive di

"Six feet of human DNA crammed into a tiny nucleus relies on an elegant system of nucleosomes, fibers, and highly organized phase-separated condensates.

Scientists have now captured the most detailed images yet of how chromatin fibers and nucleosomes arrange themselves inside these droplet-like structures, revealing how molecular architecture determines condensate behavior."

"Inside every human cell, biology manages an extraordinary challenge: packing roughly six feet of DNA into a nucleus that is only about one-tenth the width of a human hair, all while keeping the genetic material fully functional.

To achieve this level of compression, DNA coils around proteins to form nucleosomes. These nucleosomes connect like beads on a string, creating long strands that fold into chromatin fibers. The fibers then compact even further to fit inside the nucleus.

For years, scientists did not know exactly how this final stage of compaction occurred. That changed in 2019, when HHMI Investigator Michael Rosen and his colleagues at UT Southwestern Medical Center showed that lab-made nucleosomes can gather into membrane-less droplets called condensates. They discovered that this occurs through phase separation – a process similar to oil droplets forming in water – which may mirror how chromatin becomes densely packed within living cells."

"A Framework for Understanding Biomolecular Condensation"

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Article

"Looking inside chromatin condensates"

"These chromatin condensates, made up of hundreds of thousands of rapidly moving molecules, have emergent properties—behaviors that aren't present in the individual molecules but appear only when they work together as one. These properties dictate how the droplets form and maintain their physical characteristics.

To better understand these qualities, which could help researchers learn how chromatin compacts inside cells, scientists need to peer deep inside the droplets to examine individual chromatin fibers and nucleosomes.

Now, Rosen and his team, along with researchers led by HHMI Investigator Elizabeth Villa at the University of California, San Diego; Rosana Collepardo-Guevara at the University of Cambridge; and Zhiheng Yu at HHMI's Janelia Research Campus; have figured out how to do just that." (video)

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[humancelltournament]

Human Cell Tournament Round 2

Which cell or cell component is better?

Cell nucleus

Spindle apparatus

Voting ended onJul 6, 2025

Propaganda!

The cell nucleus is a membrane-bound organelle found in eukaryotic cells. The cell nucleus contains nearly all of the cell's genome. Nuclear DNA is often organized into multiple chromosomes – long strands of DNA dotted with various proteins, such as histones, that protect and organize the DNA. The genes within these chromosomes are structured in such a way to promote cell function. The nucleus maintains the integrity of genes and controls the activities of the cell by regulating gene expression.

In cell biology, the spindle apparatus is the cytoskeletal structure of eukaryotic cells that forms during cell division to separate sister chromatids between daughter cells. It is referred to as the mitotic spindle during mitosis, a process that produces genetically identical daughter cells, or the meiotic spindle during meiosis, a process that produces gametes with half the number of chromosomes of the parent cell.

[intelligentliving]

Squids Could Cure Human Diseases With Its Gene-Editing Skills

There are currently four different Gene Editing Techniques, including CRISPR-based technologies, which are designed to cure human disease by repairing the genetic code of their DNA. Researchers from the Marine Biological Laboratory (MBL) in Woods Hole, Massachusetts, have found that squid can edit its genetic code. The discovery could potentially...

[shitsuri-kinu]

I think I needed some distraction. Now, back to work.

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Nucleus Fallout

Heart muscle cells [cardiomyocytes] are continuously contracting then relaxing – mechanical stresses requiring specialised activity of their cytoskeleton and nucleus. This study quantifies the interaction between cardiomyocyte contraction and nuclear deformation, disclosing the nucleus-damaging mechanism underlying – and a potential treatment target for – a type of heart condition called LMNA cardiomyopathy

Read the published research article here

Image from work by Daria Amiad Pavlov and Julie Heffler, and colleagues

Weill Institute for Cell and Molecular Biology & Meinig School of Biomedical Engineering, Cornell University, Ithaca, NY; Dept of Physiology, Pennsylvania Muscle Institute, Perelman School of Medicine, University of Pennsylvania, PA, USA

Image originally published with a Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 International (CC BY 4.0)

Published in Nature Cardiovascular Research, October 2025

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Impex Complex

Cell nuclei are surrounded by a membrane pierced by protein assemblies called nuclear pore complexes which regulate trafficking of molecules in and out of the nucleus. This study precisely tracks in 3D single molecule cargo crossing the pore, using a strategy called MINFLUX nanoscopy, and reveals overlapping paths in and out

Read the published research article here

Image from work by Abhishek Sau and colleagues

Department of Cell Biology and Genetics, Texas A&M University, College Station, TX, USA

Image originally published with a Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 International (CC BY 4.0)

Published in Nature, March 2025

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Nuclear Squash

A 3D hydrogel system shows how pushing and pulling forces from the cell's inner protein scaffold or cytoskeleton are involved in shape-changing and manoeuvring the nucleus as cells migrate through confined spaces

Read the published research article here

Video from work by Stefan Stöberl & Johannes Flommersfeld, and colleagues

Arnold Sommerfeld Center for Theoretical Physics, Faculty of Physics and Center for NanoScience, Ludwig-Maximilians-University, Munich, Germany

Video originally published with a Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 International (CC BY 4.0)

Published in Science Advances, August 2024

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