A structural study of the metaphase chromosome is a daunting activity with inadequate tools: The electron or optical microscopes are either too detailed or too coarse to elucidate the packaging mode of the chromatin fiber, and the biochemical approach falls easy prey to the criticism of destructive interference. To make matters worse, native chromosomes display few structural features, appearing as cylindrical structures quite homogeneously stuffed with a nucleoprotein fiber. It is necessary to try to elicit the structure from chromosomes; cytogeneticists have been doing this, albeit for a different purpose, using remarkably harsh methodologies.
No takes yet. Share an insight, caveat, or question.
Saitoh et al. (1993) studied this question.