ScienceAugust 13, 2026
minichromosomes
MIN-ee-kro-muh-sohms
Definition
Small, circular, self-replicating DNA structures that mimic the native chromatin organization of a eukaryotic genome.
Etymology
Formed from the prefix 'mini-' (from Latin 'minimus', meaning smallest) and 'chromosome' (from Greek 'chroma', color, and 'soma', body). The term describes a miniaturized or simplified version of a cell's chromosomal DNA.
In the news
In this article, purified yeast minichromosomes were used as a model system to study how nucleosomes and chromatin structure help transcription factors find their correct targets while suppressing binding to nonspecific genomic sites.
Nucleosomes and IDRs suppress promiscuous GCN4 binding on minichromosomes
Read the full article ↗Nature