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Chromatin is a complex of DNA and protein found in eukaryotic cells. [1] The primary function is to package long DNA molecules into more compact, denser structures. This prevents the strands from becoming tangled and also plays important roles in reinforcing the DNA during cell division , preventing DNA damage , and regulating gene expression ...
The packaging of DNA into nucleosomes causes a 10 nanometer fibre which may further condense up to 30 nm fibres [33] Most of the euchromatin in interphase nuclei appears to be in the form of 30-nm fibers. [33] Chromatin structure is the more decondensed state, i.e. the 10-nm conformation allows transcription. [33] Heterochromatin vs. euchromatin
In contrast to most eukaryotic cells, mature sperm cells largely use protamines to package their genomic DNA, most likely to achieve an even higher packaging ratio. [17] Histone equivalents and a simplified chromatin structure have also been found in Archaea, [18] suggesting that eukaryotes are not the only organisms that use nucleosomes.
The level of nucleosomal packaging can have profound consequences on all DNA-mediated processes including gene regulation. Euchromatin (loose or open chromatin) structure is permissible for transcription whereas heterochromatin (tight or closed chromatin) is more compact and refractory to factors that need to gain access to the DNA template.
These proteins tend to be highly conserved across a majority of eukaryotic species. [13] [14] In mammals, key architectural proteins include: Histones: DNA is wrapped around histones to form nucleosomes, which are basic units of chromatin structure. Each nucleosome consists of 8 histone protein subunits, around which roughly 147 DNA base pairs ...
Similar DNA packaging exists also in chloroplasts and mitochondria. Bacterial DNA is sometimes referred to as the bacterial chromosome . Bacterial nucleoid evolutionary represents an intermediate engineering solution between the protein-free DNA packing in viruses and protein-determined packing in eukaryotes.
Chromatin can form a tertiary chromatin structure and be compacted even further than the solenoid structure by forming supercoils which have a diameter of around 700 nm. [12] This supercoil is formed by regions of DNA called scaffold/matrix attachment regions (SMARs) attaching to a central scaffolding matrix in the nucleus creating loops of ...
Histone H2A is one of the five main histone proteins involved in the structure of chromatin in eukaryotic cells. The other histone proteins are: H1, H2B, H3 and H4. The crystal structure of the nucleosome core particle consisting of H2A, H2B, H3 and H4 core histones, and DNA. The view is from the top through the superhelical axis.