Cell
Volume 33, Issue 3, July 1983, Pages 831-841
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Article
Higher order structure of chromatin: Orientation of nucleosomes within the 30 nm chromatin solenoid is independent of species and spacer length

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Abstract

We have used electric dichroism to study the arrangement of nucleosomes in 30 nm chromatin solenoidal fibers prepared from a variety of sources (CHO cells, HeLa cells, rat liver, chicken erythrocytes, and sea urchin sperm) in which the nucleosome spacer length varies from ∼10 to ∼80 bp. Field-free relaxation times are consistent only with structures containing 6 ± 1 nucleosomes for every 11 nm of solenoidal length. With very few assumptions about the arrangement of the spacer DNA, our dichroism data are consistent with the same orientation of the chromatosomes for every chromatin sample examined. This orientation, which maintains the faces of the radially arranged chromatosomes inclined at an angle between 20°–33° to the solenoid axis, thus appears to be a general structural feature of the higher order chromatin fiber.

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    Present address: Department of Medical Biochemistry, Faculty of Medicine, University of Calgary, Calgary, Alberta, Canada, T2N 1N4.

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