X-Ray Diffraction Studies of Nucleohistone: A Polyhelical Model of Chromosome Organization

The possibility that nucleohistone is constituted by a helical arrangement of DNA molecules is analyzed in this paper. A polyhelical model of nucleohistone in plectanemic double coils of variable dimensions is found to be compatible with the x-ray diffraction results obtained in this and other labor...

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Bibliographic Details
Published in:Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences - PNAS 1974-05, Vol.71 (5), p.1672-1676
Main Authors: Subirana, Juan A., Puigjaner, Luis C.
Format: Article
Language:English
Subjects:
Biological Sciences: Biochemistry
Catgut
Chemical Phenomena
Chemistry
Chromatin
Chromosomes
DNA
Histones
Mathematical rings
Mathematics
Models, Chemical
Models, Structural
Molecules
Ratios
Wave diffraction
X ray diffraction
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Summary:The possibility that nucleohistone is constituted by a helical arrangement of DNA molecules is analyzed in this paper. A polyhelical model of nucleohistone in plectanemic double coils of variable dimensions is found to be compatible with the x-ray diffraction results obtained in this and other laboratories. The radius of the coils varies between 35 and 45 angstrom, whereas the pitch varies between 200 and 120 angstrom. Another part of nucleohistone is much less coiled and contributes to the ``background'' scattering of the sample. This model is compatible with a lampbrush organization of the chromosome.
ISSN:0027-8424
1091-6490
DOI:10.1073/pnas.71.5.1672