Question

what is the meaning of "euchromatin is transcriptionally active whereas heterochromatin is transcriptionally inacive"?xplain

Answer 1

Euchromatin and heterochromatin are two distinct regions of eukaryotic genome. Euchromatin is characterised by loosely packed form of DNA or it is less condensed due to which it is easily accessible to the transcription factors that have to be bound to the DNA at the time of initiation transcription process. That's why this form of chromatin is considered to be transcriptionally active. On the other hand heterochromatin that is characterised by densely packed DNA is comparatively inaccessible and thus considered to be transcriptionally inactive form of DNA, as factors can not bind easily to this DNA to initiate the transcription.