EXPERIMENTAL FIGURE 8-33 During interphase, human chromosomes remain in non-overlapping territories in the nucleus. (a) Fixed interphase human fibroblasts were hybridized in situ to fluorescently labeled probes specific for sequences along the full length of human chromosomes 7 (cyan) and 8 (purple). DNA is stained blue with DAPI. In the diploid cell, each of the two chromosome 7s and two chromosome 8s is restricted to a territory or domain within the nucleus, rather than stretching throughout the entire nucleus. (b) This image from a fixed interphase fibroblast from a human male was made with a method similar to that used in (a), except that chromosome paint probes specific for each chromosome were hybridized to the cell to reveal the locations of nearly all the chromosomes. Some of the chromosomes are not observed in this confocal slice through the nucleus.

[Part (a) courtesy of Dr. Irina Solovei. Part (b) from A. Bolzer et al., 2005, Three-dimensional maps of all chromosomes in human male fibroblast nuclei and prometaphase rosettes. PLoS Biol. 3:826.]