Skip to content
DraconiticResearch
Search Sources API
197,768 studies31 sourcesUpdated 9 min ago
Peer-reviewedCC BY 4.0Journal of Microbiology and Biotechnology

Molecular Packaging, Liquid-Crystalline Order, and Three-Dimensional Architecture of Dinoflagellate Chromosomes

  • Jeong Min Chung1
  • Toshinobu Suzaki2
  • Yasuhiro Fukuda3
  • Chihong Song4,5,6
6 affiliations
  1. 1Department of Biotechnology, The Catholic University of Korea, Bucheon 14662, Republic of Korea
  2. 2Department of Biology, Graduate School of Science, Kobe University, Kobe 657-8501, Japan
  3. 3Laboratory of Sustainable Animal Environment, Graduate School of Agricultural Science, Tohoku University, Osaki, Miyagi 989-6711, Japan
  4. 4Department of Convergence Medicine, Pusan National University School of Medicine, Yangsan 50612, Republic of Korea
  5. 5Core Research Facility, Pusan National University, Yangsan 50612, Republic of Korea
  6. 6Medical Research Institute, Pusan National University School of Medicine, Yangsan 50612, Republic of Korea
Read full textPDFDOICite

Abstract

Many dinoflagellates package exceptionally large nuclear genomes within the dinokaryon, a nucleus that departs from conventional eukaryotic patterns of chromosome condensation, DNA packaging, and mitosis. Their chromosomes remain visibly condensed through most or all of the cell cycle. In many core dinoflagellates, DNA exhibits cholesteric liquid-crystalline order, while canonical nucleosomal chromatin does not serve as the dominant structural framework. This review synthesizes current evidence on dinoflagellate chromosome organization, spanning molecular packaging mechanisms and three-dimensional nuclear architecture. Dinoflagellates are histone-poor rather than histone-free: divergent core histones persist at low abundance, whereas HCc/MBNP-type proteins can be highly abundant in some species, with additional contributions from dinoflagellate viral nucleoproteins, divalent cations, RNA-associated factors, and modified DNA bases. Classical electron microscopy revealed nested arch patterns consistent with cholesteric order and inspired spiral, double-helical, and toroidal chromonema models, although molecular-resolution support remains lacking and fixation-sensitive features require caution. Recent volume electron microscopy and chromosome-conformation studies are revising chromosome counts and nuclear organization. Each of four reconstructed Oxyrrhis marina nuclei contained 398–405 physically segmented chromosome bodies, focused ion beam scanning electron microscopy (FIB-SEM) reconstruction of a Prorocentrum cordatum CCMP 1329 nucleus resolved 62 tightly packed chromosome bodies together with an organized nucleolus and clustered nuclear pores, and high-throughput chromosome conformation capture (Hi-C) studies in Symbiodiniaceae revealed chromosome-scale scaffolds and transcription-dependent domains. Integrating standardized volume electron microscopy, chromosome-scale genomics, cryo-electron tomography, and biochemical reconstitution should connect molecular packaging to whole-nucleus architecture and improve understanding of ecologically important microbial eukaryotes.

Related

  1. 3D Reconstruction of Dinoflagellate Chromosomes from Hi-C Data Challenges the Cholesteric Liquid Crystal Hypothesis
    Lucas Philipp, Georgi K. Marinov, Stephen Todd +1
    Nature CommunicationsPeer-reviewedCC BY-NC-ND 4.0Full textMolecular biology & gene regulationCrossrefEurope PMCPMC
  2. Three-dimensional genome organisation reveals spatially insulated outlier chromosomes in Ostreococcus tauri
    Martha Valiadi, Keith Harrison, Yann Loe-Mie +4
    BMC GenomicsPeer-reviewedCC BY 4.0Molecular biology & gene regulationCrossref
  3. Genetic engineering of dinoflagellate algae and the lethality of an introduced plastid terminal oxidase
    I.C. Nimmo, C.E. Evans, Léo Minglu Li +9
    ProtistPeer-reviewedCC BY-NC 4.0Full text1 citedProteomics & metabolomicsEcologyHAL
  4. Alternative life history strategies of a marine parasitic dinoflagellate
    Xuqing Chen, Kimberly S. Reece, Sebastian G. Gornik +1
    BMC BiologyPeer-reviewedCC BYFull textMolecular biology & gene regulationDOAJ
  5. Three-dimensional chromatin architecture is rapidly restored after DNA replication.
    Tyler K Fenstermaker, Svetlana Petruk, Alexander Mazo
    Nature communicationsPeer-reviewedCC BY-NC-NDFull textMolecular biology & gene regulationEurope PMC

Cite

BibTeXRIS
BibTeX
@article{chung2026molecular,
  title = {{Molecular Packaging, Liquid-Crystalline Order, and Three-Dimensional Architecture of Dinoflagellate Chromosomes}},
  author = {Jeong Min Chung and Toshinobu Suzaki and Yasuhiro Fukuda and Chihong Song},
  journal = {Journal of Microbiology and Biotechnology},
  year = {2026},
  month = oct,
  doi = {10.4014/jmb.2608.08034},
  url = {https://doi.org/10.4014/jmb.2608.08034},
  note = {CC BY 4.0},
}
RIS
TY  - JOUR
TI  - Molecular Packaging, Liquid-Crystalline Order, and Three-Dimensional Architecture of Dinoflagellate Chromosomes
AU  - Jeong Min Chung
AU  - Toshinobu Suzaki
AU  - Yasuhiro Fukuda
AU  - Chihong Song
PY  - 2026
DA  - 2026/10/13
JO  - Journal of Microbiology and Biotechnology
DO  - 10.4014/jmb.2608.08034
UR  - https://doi.org/10.4014/jmb.2608.08034
AB  - Many dinoflagellates package exceptionally large nuclear genomes within the dinokaryon, a nucleus that departs from conventional eukaryotic patterns of chromosome condensation, DNA packaging, and mitosis. Their chromosomes remain visibly condensed through most or all of the cell cycle. In many core dinoflagellates, DNA exhibits cholesteric liquid-crystalline order, while canonical nucleosomal chromatin does not serve as the dominant structural framework. This review synthesizes current evidence on dinoflagellate chromosome organization, spanning molecular packaging mechanisms and three-dimensional nuclear architecture. Dinoflagellates are histone-poor rather than histone-free: divergent core histones persist at low abundance, whereas HCc/MBNP-type proteins can be highly abundant in some species, with additional contributions from dinoflagellate viral nucleoproteins, divalent cations, RNA-associated factors, and modified DNA bases. Classical electron microscopy revealed nested arch patterns consistent with cholesteric order and inspired spiral, double-helical, and toroidal chromonema models, although molecular-resolution support remains lacking and fixation-sensitive features require caution. Recent volume electron microscopy and chromosome-conformation studies are revising chromosome counts and nuclear organization. Each of four reconstructed Oxyrrhis marina nuclei contained 398–405 physically segmented chromosome bodies, focused ion beam scanning electron microscopy (FIB-SEM) reconstruction of a Prorocentrum cordatum CCMP 1329 nucleus resolved 62 tightly packed chromosome bodies together with an organized nucleolus and clustered nuclear pores, and high-throughput chromosome conformation capture (Hi-C) studies in Symbiodiniaceae revealed chromosome-scale scaffolds and transcription-dependent domains. Integrating standardized volume electron microscopy, chromosome-scale genomics, cryo-electron tomography, and biochemical reconstitution should connect molecular packaging to whole-nucleus architecture and improve understanding of ecologically important microbial eukaryotes.
SN  - 1017-7825
SN  - 1738-8872
ER  -