12 Interesting Difference between Heterochromatin and Euchromatin

Table of Contents

What is the difference between heterochromatin and euchromatin?

Chromatin is a biological structure that holds the strands of DNA of a chromosome. Heterochromatin and euchromatin happen to be two types of chromatins in a cell.

The lesson, therefore, provides insights into the difference between heterochromatin and euchromatin in tabular form for easier understanding.

What Is Heterochromatin?

Heterochromatin is a comparatively condensed form of chromosomes and they normally result in a dark stain with DNA specific stain.

They are a tightly packed form of the DNA in a nucleus. The compact structure makes it tough for accessible proteins during gene expression.

There are two types of heterochromatic such as facultative heterochromatin and constitutive heterochromatin.

Facultative heterochromatin is where genes get sliced through the process of Histone methylation or siRNA. The resulting genes are inactive though not the permanent character of every nucleus of cells.

Constitutive heterochromatin is the repetitive and structurally functional genes such as centromeres or telomeres. It normally results in no gene in the genome.

The core function of heterochromatin is to protect the DNA from the endonuclease damage which occurs as a result of compact nature.

What Is Euchromatin?

Euchromatin is the part of the chromosomes that is rich in gene concentration and it is loosely packed. They are known to be active during transcription.

The core function of euchromatin is to regulate gene mechanisms during the process of transcription. An example of euchromatin is housekeeping.

Comparison Chart: Heterochromatin Vs Euchromatin

Basic Terms	Heterochromatin	Euchromatin
Form	Tightly packed form of DNA	Loosely packed form of DNA
DNA density	High	Low
Transcriptional activity	Little participation	Actively participated
DNA replication	Late	Early
Stickiness	Quite sticky	Non-sticky
Core Function	Highly involved in the maintenance of structural integrity and regulation of gene expression	Highly involved in genetic transcription and genetic variations
Kind of stain	Stained dark	Lightly stained
Location of the chromatins	The periphery of the nucleus in eukaryotic cells only.	The inner body of the nucleus for both eukaryotic and prokaryotic cells.
Types	Two	One
Organism	Eukaryotes	Both eukaryotes and prokaryotes
Active vs Inactive	Inactive	Active
How it is affected	The phenotype of the organism remains unchanged	Genetic processes and variation in alleles

Core Differences

Heterochromatic is a sticky region while euchromatin is a non-sticky region

Heterochromatin shows heteropycnosis while euchromatin does not show heteropycnosis

Heterochromatin is highly affected by temperature and sex while euchromatin is less affected.

Euchromatin tend to experience more crossover while heterochromatin less frequency of crossover

The phenotype of euchromatin tend to be affected by addition or loss while the phenotype of heterochromatin remains unchanged

The region of euchromatin are able to the synthesis of mRNA in vitro whereas heterochromatin does not synthesize mRNA in vitro size

Heterochromatin regions are deeply stained dark while euchromatin regions are lightly stained.

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Comparison Video

Summary

The core difference between heterochromatin and euchromatin is based on the structure and staining. Understanding these differences is quite key to the preparation of competitive exams. Good luck.

More Sources and References

Heterochromatin. Wikipedia.
Euchromatin. Science Direct

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