Fig. 9

Regionalisation of the DNA molecules depends on several biological processes. Four regions could be found in E. cuniculi genome (top of the schema). We summarize all the possible mechanism that may influence genetic structure and base composition of E. cuniculi chromosome extremities (Transcription, replication, level of heterochromatin). The SUB region corresponds to the subtelomere and is related to heterochromatin state. The EXT repeats are presenting a mosaic organisation in E. cuniculi genome. They contain genes that might experience Telomere Position Effect (TPE). We suggest that continuous tensile and bending forces applied on the EXT by the movement of the coding region are responsible for Double Strand Breaks (DSB). The predicted “ductility” of the DNA need to be further tested. This model can be applied to other eukaryotic genomes with specific properties of each organism. Gene content and protein complexes such as telosome, DNA or RNA replication might deeply influence the presence of sub-terminal region in other genomes