Heterochromatin is a tightly packed form of DNA, which comes in multiple varieties. These varieties lie on a continuum between the two extremes of constitutive and facultative heterochromatin. Both play a role in the expression of genes.

In most organisms, constitutive heterochromatin occurs around the chromosome centromere and near telomeres. Facultative heterochromatin is the result of genes that are silenced through a mechanism such as histone deacetylation or piRNA through RNAi. It is not repetitive and shares the compact structure of constitutive heterochromatin. However, under specific developmental or environmental signaling cues, it can lose its condensed structure and become transcriptionally active.

Euchromatin is a lightly packed form of chromatin (DNA, RNA and protein) that is rich in gene concentration, and is often (but not always) under active transcription. Euchromatin comprises the most active portion of the genome within the cell nucleus. 92% of the human genome is euchromatic. Euchromatin participates in the active transcription of DNA to mRNA products. The unfolded structure allows gene regulatory proteins and RNA polymerase complexes to bind to the DNA sequence, which can then initiate the transcription process.

Not all euchromatin is necessarily transcribed, but in general that which is not is transformed into heterochromatin to protect the genes while they are not in use. There is therefore a direct link to how actively productive a cell is and the amount of euchromatin that can be found in its nucleus. It is thought that the cell uses transformation from euchromatin into heterochromatin as a method of controlling gene expression and replication, since such processes behave differently on densely compacted chromatin, known as the `accessibility hypothesis'. One example of constitutive euchromatin that is 'always turned on' is housekeeping genes, which code for the proteins needed for basic functions of cell survival.

Finishing the euchromatic sequence of the human genome

A telomere is a region of repetitive nucleotide sequences at each end of a chromatid, which protects the end of the chromosome from deterioration or from fusion with neighbouring chromosomes. For vertebrates (and maybe A. dolichophallus), the sequence of nucleotides in telomeres is TTAGGG. This sequence of TTAGGG is repeated approximately 2,500 times in humans.

"how chromosomes are protected by telomeres and the enzyme telomerase"

ELIZABETH BLACKBURN: TELOMERES AND TELOMERASE

Telomere biology in Metazoa.

The centromere is the part of a chromosome that links sister chromatids. In most eukaryotes, the centromere's DNA sequence consists of large arrays of repetitive DNA (e.g. satellite DNA) where the sequence within individual repeat elements is similar but not identical. In humans, the primary centromeric repeat unit is called α-satellite (or alphoid), although a number of other sequence types are found in this region.

There are broadly speaking two types of centromeres. “Point centromeres” bind to specific proteins that recognize particular DNA sequences with high efficiency. The best characterized point centromeres are those of the budding yeast, Saccharomyces cerevisiae. “Regional centromeres” is the term coined to describe most centromeres, which typically form on regions of preferred DNA sequence, but which can form on other DNA sequences as well. The signal for formation of a regional centromere appears to be epigenetic. Most organisms, ranging from the fission yeast Schizosaccharomyces pombe to humans, have regional centromeres.

Centromere identity from the DNA point of view.

i-Motif DNA: Structure, stability and targeting with ligands