Editing Euchromatin (section)

=== Transcription ===
Euchromatin participates in the active [[Transcription (biology)|transcription]] of [[DNA]] to [[mRNA]] products. The unfolded structure allows gene regulatory proteins and [[RNA polymerase]] complexes to bind to the DNA sequence, which can then initiate the transcription process.<ref name="Babu_1987" /> While not all euchromatin is necessarily transcribed, as the euchromatin is divided into transcriptionally active and inactive domains,<ref>{{cite journal | vauthors = Verschure PJ, van Der Kraan I, Manders EM, van Driel R | title = Spatial relationship between transcription sites and chromosome territories | journal = The Journal of Cell Biology | volume = 147 | issue = 1 | pages = 13–24 | date = October 1999 | pmid = 10508851 | pmc = 2164981 | doi = 10.1083/jcb.147.1.13 }}</ref> euchromatin is still generally associated with active gene transcription. There is therefore a direct link to how actively productive a cell is and the amount of euchromatin that can be found in its nucleus.

It is thought that the cell uses transformation from euchromatin into heterochromatin as a method of controlling [[gene expression]] and [[DNA replication|replication]], since such processes behave differently on densely compacted chromatin. This is known as the 'accessibility hypothesis'.<ref>{{cite journal | vauthors = Muegge K | title = Modifications of histone cores and tails in V(D)J recombination | journal = Genome Biology | volume = 4 | issue = 4 | page = 211 | date = 2003-04-01 | pmid = 12702201 | pmc = 154571 | doi = 10.1186/gb-2003-4-4-211 | doi-access = free }}</ref> One example of constitutive euchromatin that is 'always turned on' is [[housekeeping genes]], which code for the proteins needed for basic functions of cell survival.<ref>{{cite journal | vauthors = Eisenberg E, Levanon EY | title = Human housekeeping genes, revisited | language = English | journal = Trends in Genetics | volume = 29 | issue = 10 | pages = 569–574 | date = October 2013 | pmid = 23810203 | doi = 10.1016/j.tig.2013.05.010 }}</ref>