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. Author manuscript; available in PMC: 2014 Mar 14.
Published in final edited form as: Cell. 2013 Mar 14;152(6):1298–1307. doi: 10.1016/j.cell.2013.02.012

Figure 1. Comparison between a Roman city and the cell nucleus reveals the importance of spatial organization.

Figure 1

(A) Depiction of the basic features of a Roman city. City walls delimit the city, with gates at the two main roads that intersect at the center of the city. The Forum was the business and political center of the city and many buildings provided specific functions essential for city life. (B) Schematic representation of the typical nuclear organization during interphase. Each chromosome occupies a discrete territory. Euchromatin localizes to the interior regions of the nucleus and the densely compacted Heterochromatin localizes near the nuclear envelope. Many specialized functions are executed in distinct regions in the nucleus, known as nuclear bodies. One example is the nucleolus, where ribosomes are assembled. Adapted from (Solovei et al., 2009).