Figure 2

Schematic of a eukaryote cell illustrating self-organised structures in both the cytoplasm and the nucleoplasm. In the nucleus we highlight (in dark blue) a single chromosome, restricted to its territory, and show this chromosome’s euchromatin and heterochromatin domains. In the cytoplasm we have shown a number of cytoplasmic bodies: P granules, TRIM5α assemblies and a signalosome. In all three cases we have used a dashed ellipse with an arrow to indicate that at least some components of the body turn over rapidly, in minutes or less. Finally, we have also indicated microtubules (green) and actin filaments (red). We have shown flow of the cytoplasm due to a bulky cargo (brown) being pulled along a microtubule, and the cell’s actin-based cortex deforming as a bead is pushed down onto the cell.