Skip to main content
Nucleic Acids Research logoLink to Nucleic Acids Research
. 1978 May;5(5):1571–1580. doi: 10.1093/nar/5.5.1571

Light scattering measurements supporting helical structures for chromatin in solution.

A M Campbell, R I Cotter, J F Pardon
PMCID: PMC342105  PMID: 662693

Abstract

Laser light scattering measurements have been made on a series of polynucleosomes containing from 50 to 150 nucleosomes. Radii of gyration have been determined as a function of polynucleosome length for different ionic strength solutions. The results suggest that at low ionic strength the chromatin adopts a loosely helical structure rather than a random coil. The helix becomes more regular on increasing the ionic strength, the dimension resembling those proposed by Finch and Klug for their solenoid model.

Full text

PDF
1571

Images in this article

Selected References

These references are in PubMed. This may not be the complete list of references from this article.

  1. Baldwin J. P., Boseley P. G., Bradbury E. M., Ibel K. The subunit structure of the eukaryotic chromosome. Nature. 1975 Jan 24;253(5489):245–249. doi: 10.1038/253245a0. [DOI] [PubMed] [Google Scholar]
  2. Campbell A. M. Conformational analysis of deoxyribonucleic acid from PM2 bacteriophage. The effect of size on supercoil shape. Biochem J. 1976 Apr 1;155(1):101–105. doi: 10.1042/bj1550101. [DOI] [PMC free article] [PubMed] [Google Scholar]
  3. Campbell A. M., Cotter R. I. Subunit associations among chromatin particles. Nucleic Acids Res. 1977 Nov;4(11):3877–3886. doi: 10.1093/nar/4.11.3877. [DOI] [PMC free article] [PubMed] [Google Scholar]
  4. Campbell A. M., Cotter R. I. The molecular weight of nucleosome protein by laser light scattering. FEBS Lett. 1976 Nov;70(1):209–211. doi: 10.1016/0014-5793(76)80759-4. [DOI] [PubMed] [Google Scholar]
  5. Carpenter B. G., Baldwin J. P., Bradbury E. M., Ibel K. Organisation of subunits in chromatin. Nucleic Acids Res. 1976 Jul;3(7):1739–1746. doi: 10.1093/nar/3.7.1739. [DOI] [PMC free article] [PubMed] [Google Scholar]
  6. Davies H. G., Haynes M. E. Light- and electron-microscope observations on certain leukocytes in a teleost fish and a comparison of the envelope-limited monolayers of chromatin structural units in different species. J Cell Sci. 1975 Mar;17(3):263–285. doi: 10.1242/jcs.17.3.263. [DOI] [PubMed] [Google Scholar]
  7. Finch J. T., Klug A. Solenoidal model for superstructure in chromatin. Proc Natl Acad Sci U S A. 1976 Jun;73(6):1897–1901. doi: 10.1073/pnas.73.6.1897. [DOI] [PMC free article] [PubMed] [Google Scholar]
  8. Finch J. T., Lutter L. C., Rhodes D., Brown R. S., Rushton B., Levitt M., Klug A. Structure of nucleosome core particles of chromatin. Nature. 1977 Sep 1;269(5623):29–36. doi: 10.1038/269029a0. [DOI] [PubMed] [Google Scholar]
  9. Garrett R. A. Low angle x-ray diffraction from dilute nucleohistone gels. Biochim Biophys Acta. 1971 Sep 24;246(3):553–560. doi: 10.1016/0005-2787(71)90792-1. [DOI] [PubMed] [Google Scholar]
  10. Hjelm R. P., Kneale G. G., Sauau P., Baldwin J. P., Bradbury E. M., Ibel K. Small angle neutron scattering studies of chromatin subunits in solution. Cell. 1977 Jan;10(1):139–151. doi: 10.1016/0092-8674(77)90148-9. [DOI] [PubMed] [Google Scholar]
  11. LUZZATI V., NICOLAUIEFF A. THE STRUCTURE OF NUCLEOHISTONES AND NUCLEOPROTAMINES. J Mol Biol. 1963 Aug;7:142–163. doi: 10.1016/s0022-2836(63)80043-1. [DOI] [PubMed] [Google Scholar]
  12. Murray K., Murray N. E. Phage lambda receptor chromosomes for DNA fragments made with restriction endonuclease III of Haemophilus influenzae and restriction endonuclease I of Escherichia coli. J Mol Biol. 1975 Nov 5;98(3):551–564. doi: 10.1016/s0022-2836(75)80086-6. [DOI] [PubMed] [Google Scholar]
  13. Pardon J. F., Richards B. M., Cotter R. I. X-ray diffraction studies on oriented nucleohistone gels. Cold Spring Harb Symp Quant Biol. 1974;38:75–81. doi: 10.1101/sqb.1974.038.01.010. [DOI] [PubMed] [Google Scholar]
  14. Pardon J. F., Wilkins M. H. A super-coil model for nucleohistone. J Mol Biol. 1972 Jul 14;68(1):115–124. doi: 10.1016/0022-2836(72)90267-7. [DOI] [PubMed] [Google Scholar]
  15. Pardon J. F., Worcester D. L., Wooley J. C., Cotter R. I., Lilley D. M., Richards R. M. The structure of the chromatin core particle in solution. Nucleic Acids Res. 1977 Sep;4(9):3199–3214. doi: 10.1093/nar/4.9.3199. [DOI] [PMC free article] [PubMed] [Google Scholar]
  16. Pardon J. F., Worcester D. L., Wooley J. C., Tatchell K., Van Holde K. E., Richards B. M. Low-angle neutron scattering from chromatin subunit particles. Nucleic Acids Res. 1975 Nov;2(11):2163–2176. doi: 10.1093/nar/2.11.2163. [DOI] [PMC free article] [PubMed] [Google Scholar]
  17. Pooley A. S., Pardon J. F., Richards B. M. The relation between the unit thread of chromosomes and isolated nucleohistone. J Mol Biol. 1974 Jan 5;85(4):533–549. doi: 10.1016/0022-2836(74)90314-3. [DOI] [PubMed] [Google Scholar]
  18. Renz M., Nehls P., Hozier J. Involvement of histone H1 in the organization of the chromosome fiber. Proc Natl Acad Sci U S A. 1977 May;74(5):1879–1883. doi: 10.1073/pnas.74.5.1879. [DOI] [PMC free article] [PubMed] [Google Scholar]
  19. Richards B., Pardon J., Lilley D., Cotter R., Wooley J., Worchester D. The sub-structure of nucleosomes. Cell Biol Int Rep. 1977 Jan;1(1):107–116. doi: 10.1016/0309-1651(77)90017-0. [DOI] [PubMed] [Google Scholar]
  20. Ris H., Kubai D. F. Chromosome structure. Annu Rev Genet. 1970;4:263–294. doi: 10.1146/annurev.ge.04.120170.001403. [DOI] [PubMed] [Google Scholar]
  21. Schmid C. W., Rinehart F. P., Hearst J. E. Statistical length of DNA from light scattering. Biopolymers. 1971;10(5):883–893. doi: 10.1002/bip.360100511. [DOI] [PubMed] [Google Scholar]
  22. Shaw B. R., Herman T. M., Kovacic R. T., Beaudreau G. S., Van Holde K. E. Analysis of subunit organization in chicken erythrocyte chromatin. Proc Natl Acad Sci U S A. 1976 Feb;73(2):505–509. doi: 10.1073/pnas.73.2.505. [DOI] [PMC free article] [PubMed] [Google Scholar]
  23. Shaw B. R., Schmitz K. S. Quasielastic light scattering by biopolymers. Conformation of chromatin multimers. Biochem Biophys Res Commun. 1976 Nov 22;73(2):224–232. doi: 10.1016/0006-291x(76)90697-5. [DOI] [PubMed] [Google Scholar]
  24. Sperling L., Klug A. X-ray studies on "native" chromatin. J Mol Biol. 1977 May 15;112(2):253–263. doi: 10.1016/s0022-2836(77)80142-3. [DOI] [PubMed] [Google Scholar]
  25. Sperling L. The mass per unit length of chromatin by low-angle x-ray scattering. FEBS Lett. 1976 Apr 15;64(1):89–91. doi: 10.1016/0014-5793(76)80256-6. [DOI] [PubMed] [Google Scholar]

Articles from Nucleic Acids Research are provided here courtesy of Oxford University Press

RESOURCES