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Each human cell contains around two metres of DNA, which must be tightly folded to fit inside the cell nucleus. However, in order for the cell to function, proteins must be able to access the sequence information contained within the DNA, in spite of its tightly-packed nature. Hence, the cell has a number of mechanisms in place to control how ...
The nucleosome is the fundamental subunit of chromatin. Each nucleosome is composed of a little less than two turns of DNA wrapped around a set of eight proteins called histones, which are known as a histone octamer. Each histone octamer is composed of two copies each of the histone proteins H2A, H2B, H3, and H4.
The nucleosome assembles when DNA wraps around the histone octamer, two H2A-H2B dimers bound to an H3-H4 tetramer. The nucleosome core particle is the most basic form of DNA compaction in eukaryotes. Nucleosomes consist of a histone octamer surrounded by 146 base pairs of DNA wrapped in a superhelical manner. [10]
The NuRD complex contains seven subunits: the histone deacetylase core proteins HDAC1 and HDAC2, the histone-binding proteins RbAp46 and RbAp48, the metastasis-associated proteins MTA1 (or MTA2 / MTA3), the methyl-CpG-binding domain protein MBD3 (or MBD2) and the chromodomain-helicase-DNA-binding protein CHD3 (aka Mi-2alpha) or CHD4 (aka Mi-2beta).
Schematic representation of the assembly of the core histones into the nucleosome. In biology, histones are highly basic proteins abundant in lysine and arginine residues that are found in eukaryotic cell nuclei and in most Archaeal phyla. They act as spools around which DNA winds to create structural units called nucleosomes.
[8] [9] The histones form a disk-shaped complex called a nucleosome, which contains two complete turns of double-stranded DNA wrapped around its surface. These non-specific interactions are formed through basic residues in the histones making ionic bonds to the acidic sugar-phosphate backbone of the DNA, and are therefore largely independent of ...
The solenoid structure's most obvious function is to help package the DNA so that it is small enough to fit into the nucleus. This is a big task as the nucleus of a mammalian cell has a diameter of approximately 6 μm, whilst the DNA in one human cell would stretch to just over 2 metres long if it were unwound. [6]
Also meganucleus. The larger of the two types of nuclei which occur in pairs in the cells of some ciliated protozoa. Macronuclei are highly polyploid and responsible for directing vegetative reproduction, in contrast to the diploid micronuclei, which have important functions during conjugation. macrophage Any of a class of relatively long-lived phagocytic cells of the mammalian immune system ...