Sliced chromosome is on the menu, thanks to a tour-de-force of X-ray microscopy. Yoshinori Nishino of the RIKEN SPring-8 Center in Hyogo, Japan, and his co-workers have recorded three-dimensional sectional images of a human chromosome (pictured) using coherent X-ray diffraction microscopy.
Chromosomes are too dense for electron microscopes to see 'inside' them, and fluorescent light microscopy can reveal only selected features. By contrast, the X-ray diffraction method offers a full three-dimensional view of electron density in a single chromosome about 2 micrometres across, showing the internal structure with a resolution of about 120 nanometres.
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Microscopy: Inside information. Nature 457, 238 (2009). https://doi.org/10.1038/457238c
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DOI: https://doi.org/10.1038/457238c