Figure 7.

Timeline of salt-induced disassembly of 601-NCP and 5S-NCP. For 601-NCP, DNA opens rapidly from one end and reaches a metastable conformation within the first 20 ms. The histone octamer is disrupted by the asymmetric unwinding, but retains strong electrostatic interactions with 601 DNA and maintains a ‘J’-shaped structure for ∼200 ms. This long-lived intermediate then dissociates at a rate of 0.74 ± 0.08 s⁻¹. 5S-NCPs exhibit much faster dissociation dynamics. After 20 ms, the DNA is mostly unwrapped and extended but still bound to the histone components. No stable intermediates are detected and 5S-NCPs disassemble within 1 s (two rates measured: 41.6 ± 13.9 and 1.13 ± 0.74 s⁻¹).