The most evident difference in these two chromatin structures is related to their ability of being transcribed. Euchromatin is a more "relaxed" chromatin structure, thus, the transcriptional machinery can access it easily; on the other hand heterochromatin is tightly coiled so transcription does not really happen in this region. There are a lot of regulatory factors that control the structure of chromatin. Take a look at histone modifications and how they can control the structure of chromatin. Weaver's "Molecular Biology" is a good reference for this topic.
Have a look at this website, i hope you will find it useful. There are several links within the page, which lead you to additional articles.
http://www.nature.com/scitable/topicpage/chromosomes-14121320
I hope you can get clearly the differences between both forms of chromatin by clicking the website link below:-
http://www.differencebetween.net/science/biology-science/differences-between-euchromatin-and-heterochromatin/
The most evident difference in these two chromatin structures is related to their ability of being transcribed. Euchromatin is a more "relaxed" chromatin structure, thus, the transcriptional machinery can access it easily; on the other hand heterochromatin is tightly coiled so transcription does not really happen in this region. There are a lot of regulatory factors that control the structure of chromatin. Take a look at histone modifications and how they can control the structure of chromatin. Weaver's "Molecular Biology" is a good reference for this topic.
Hetero chromatin stains deeply but Eu chromatin stains less deeply.Hetero chromatin is found in the condensed region of the chromosomes and is associated with tight folding and coiling of the chromosome fibre while Eu chromatin consists of the diffused or less tightly coiled regions.It replicates at the end of the S phase of the mitotic cycle but Euchromatin replicates during the early stage of the S phase.
Euchromatin is a lightly packed form of chromatin (DNA, RNA and protein) that is enriched in genes and is often under active transcription. Nucleosomes consist of eight proteins known as histones, with approximately 147 base pairs of DNA wound around them; in euchromatin, this wrapping is loose so that the raw DNA may be accessed. Euchromatin comprises the most active portion of the genome within the cell nucleus. 92% of the human genome is euchromatic.
Heterochromatin is a tightly packed form of DNA which comes in multiple varieties. Because it is tightly packed it is inaccessible to polymerases and is therefore not transcribed. Heterochromatin mainly consists of genetically inactive satellite sequences.
Euchromatin is less intense, while heterochromatin stains intensely, indicating tighter packing. Heterochromatin is usually localized to the periphery of the nucleus.
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