Nucleolar organization as revealed in cell spreads.

The nucleolar organization has been studied in spreads of cells either untreated or treated with hypotonic salt solution for different periods. A network corresponding to the nucleolonema becomes evident with progressive hypotonic treatment. The network reveals units comparable to the rDNA transcriptional units in length and is associated with tufts of fibrils and granules. Spread preparations from cycloheximide treated cells reveal a thread-like axis and often 'Christmas tree'-like configurations within these units. Spacers joining the units can also be detected. It is supposed that the transcriptional units move outwards with their transcriptional products where the processing takes place. In loose nucleoli, this network forms the nucleolonema, which remains associated with the granules, the processed transcriptional products. In compact nucleoli the network is obliterated by the granules and they form the major component of the nucleoli. Such organization represents all the events in the transcription and processing of ribosomal RNA.