R S Edayathumangalam | Search PubMed

PubMed2006

Nucleosome structure and function.

It is now widely recognized that the packaging of genomic DNA, together with core histones, linker histones, and other functional proteins into chromatin profoundly influences nuclear processes such as transcription, replication, DNA repair, and recombination. How chromatin structure modulates the expression of knowledge encoded in eukaryotic genomes, and how these processes take place within the context of a highly complex and compacted genomic chromatin environment remains a major unresolved question in biology. Here we review recent advances in nucleosome structure and dynamics.

Animals↗

PubMed2003

Structure and dynamics of nucleosomal DNA.

The last five years have seen exciting advances in our understanding of the structure of the nucleosome core particle, the basic repeating unit in all eukaryotic chromatin. A picture emerges in which nucleosomal DNA, while distorted and compacted fivefold by tight interactions with the histone octamer core, is at the same time highly dynamic and adaptable. Here, we summarize the salient features from recent structural studies of nucleosome core particles (both published and unpublished) that concern the structure and dynamics of nucleosomal DNA, and the nature of protein-DNA interactions. Current mechanisms for chromatin remodeling and nucleosome sliding are discussed in light of new structural evidence. Finally, techniques to study nucleosome stability and ultimately dynamics are introduced.

Binding Sites↗