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. 1982 Oct;79(19):5896–5900. doi: 10.1073/pnas.79.19.5896

DNA motions in the nucleosome core particle.

J Wang, M Hogan, R H Austin
PMCID: PMC347017  PMID: 6964394

Abstract

We have used time-resolved triplet state anisotropy decay techniques to measure the conformational flexibility of DNA in the nucleosome. From these measurements we conclude that, in a nucleosome, the DNA helix experiences substantial internal flexibility, which occurs with a time constant near 30 nsec. We find that our data can be fit well by a modified version of the Barkley-Zimm model for DNA motion, allowing only DNA twisting motions and the overall tumbling of the nucleosome. That fit yields a calculated torsional rigidity equal to 1.8 X 10(-19) erg X cm, a value equal to that measured for uncomplexed DNA. We conclude from such similarity that large, fast twisting motions of the DNA helix persist, nearly unaltered, when DNA is wrapped to form a nucleosome.

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Selected References

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

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