Dynamics of Nucleosome Structure Studied by Fluorescence
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Excerpt
Although the basic elements of nucleosome structure appear to be conserved, it is likely that functionally important conformational differences exist among nucleosomes. Morphologic (Daneholt et al.; Franke et al.; both this volume) and biochemical (Weintraub and Groudine 1976; Garel and Axel, this volume) observations suggest that transcriptionally active segments of chromatin exist in a more extended conformation. We would expect that concomitant structural changes within the nucleosome also accompany the process of replication.
One approach to the study of the dynamics of macromolecular assemblies involves the use of covalently bound fluorescent dyes. Both the size and the complexity of the nucleosome render it amenable to study in this manner. It should be feasible to label the nucleosome with fluorescent dyes in various places, either on the histones or on the DNA. It is desirable for energy-transfer experiments to have the dyes in specific known positions. We chose to label chick...
