Understanding Cell Division: Chromatin and Chromosomal Changes Explained

[Docscientist]

During cell division there are different processes that take place like prophase,metaphase,anaphase etc...I don't understand about chromatin condensation and chromosomal condensation that happens during these processes.Can some one explain how the chromatin material changes itself in different phases and how it becomes a chromosome ?

 

[Ygggdrasil]

Chromatin condensation is not terribly well understood and is an active area of research. We know that proteins called condensins use the energy of ATP hydrolysis to compact chromatin into chromosomes, but how the condensins facilitate chromatin compaction and the overall structure of the compacted chromatin in mitotic chromosomes is not well understood.

Here is an overview of chromosome structure from the Alberts textbook: https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/books/NBK26847/#_A675_
A paper on the organization of mitotic chromosomes: http://science.sciencemag.org/content/342/6161/948.long
A hypothesis on the mechanism of compaction: http://biorxiv.org/content/early/2015/06/29/021642