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Usually, DNA condensation is defined as "the collapse of extended DNA chains into compact, orderly particles containing only one or a few molecules". [3] This definition applies to many situations in vitro and is also close to the definition of DNA condensation in bacteria as "adoption of relatively concentrated, compact state occupying a ...
In biology the term 'condensation' is used much more broadly and can also refer to liquid–liquid phase separation to form colloidal emulsions or liquid crystals within cells, and liquid–solid phase separation to form gels, [1] sols, or suspensions within cells as well as liquid-to-solid phase transitions such as DNA condensation during ...
The nucleosome is the basic unit of DNA condensation and consists of a DNA double helix bound to an octamer of core histones (2 dimers of H2A and H2B, and an H3/H4 tetramer). About 147 base pairs of DNA coil around 1 octamer, and ~20 base pairs are sequestered by the addition of the linker histone (H1), and various length of "linker" DNA (~0 ...
DNA can be twisted like a rope in a process called DNA supercoiling. With DNA in its "relaxed" state, a strand usually circles the axis of the double helix once every 10.4 base pairs, but if the DNA is twisted the strands become more tightly or more loosely wound. [43]
This relaxation can be reversed by deacetylation catalyzed by HDAC activity. Relaxed, transcriptionally active DNA is referred to as euchromatin. More condensed (tightly packed) DNA is referred to as heterochromatin. Condensation can be brought about by processes including deacetylation and methylation. [1]
Condensation reactions likely played major roles in the synthesis of the first biotic molecules including early peptides and nucleic acids. In fact, condensation reactions would be required at multiple steps in RNA oligomerization: the condensation of nucleobases and sugars , nucleoside phosphorylation , and nucleotide polymerization.
In the latter experiments, the activity of individual condensin complexes on DNA was visualized by real-time fluorescence imaging, revealing that condensin I indeed is a fast loop-extruding motor and that a single condensin I complex can extrude 1,500 bp of DNA per second in a strictly ATP-dependent manner.
[4] [5] [6] SMC1 and SMC3 also have functions in the repair of DNA double-strained breaks in the process of homologous recombination. [7] Likewise, a pair of SMC2 and SMC4 acts as the core of the condensin complexes implicated in chromosome condensation. [8] [9] SMC2 and SMC4 have the function of DNA repair as well. Condensin I plays a role in ...