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PMID: 6933532 Published · ppublish English Journal Article Research Support, U.S. Gov't, Non-P.H.S. Research Support, U.S. Gov't, P.H.S.

Composition of native and reconstituted chromatin particles: direct mass determination by scanning transmission electron microscopy.

Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences of the United States of America ·Vol. 77 ·No. 8 ·1980-08-00 ·Pages 4818-22

Woodcock CL, Frado LL, Wall JS

Abstract

Chromatin particles reconstituted from 145-base-pair lengths of DNA and either the arginine-rich histones H3 and H4 only or all four nucleosomal core histones have been compared with native nucleosomes in terms of their ultrastructure and mass distribution, as determined by scanning transmission electron microscopy (STEM). The mass of the nucleosome derived from STEM analysis was very close to that calculated for its DNA and histone components. The reconstituted particles showed a broader mass distribution, but it was clear that the majority contained at least eight histone molecules. This was to be expected for structures reconstituted from all four core histones, but in the case of H3H4-DNA complexes clearly showed that an octamer rather than tetramer of these histones was required to fold nucleosomal DNA into a stable compact particle. The significance of the H3H4 octamer complex with respect to nucleosomal structure is discussed, and the evidence that nucleosomal DNA can accept even greater numbers of histones is considered.

MeSH Terms
Animals Chickens Chromatin/ultrastructure DNA/metabolism Erythrocytes/ultrastructure Histones/metabolism Microscopy, Electron/methods Microscopy, Electron, Scanning/methods Molecular Weight Nucleosomes/ultrastructure
Chemicals
Chromatin Histones Nucleosomes DNA
Authors & Affiliations
3 authors, click to expand affiliations / ORCID
Woodcock C L
Frado L L
Wall J S
References (38)
38 references, click to expand
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Article Info
Journal
Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences of the United States of America
Abbr.
Proc Natl Acad Sci U S A
ISSN
0027-8424
DOI
10.1073/pnas.77.8.4818
Published
1980-08-00
Pages
4818-22
Language
English
Region
United States
NLM ID
7505876
PMCID
PMC349938
Subset
IM
Grants
NIGMS NIH HHS · GM23505 · United States
NCRR NIH HHS · RR00715 · United States
External Links
PubMed source DOI: 10.1073/pnas.77.8.4818 PMC Full Text View journal details
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