{"title":"Are extraordinary nucleosome structures more ordinary than we thought?","authors":"Claris Y Y Chong, Lu Gan","doi":"10.1007/s00412-023-00791-w","DOIUrl":null,"url":null,"abstract":"<p><p>The nucleosome is a DNA-protein assembly that is the basic unit of chromatin. A nucleosome can adopt various structures. In the canonical nucleosome structure, 145-147 bp of DNA is wrapped around a histone heterooctamer. The strong histone-DNA interactions cause the DNA to be inaccessible for nuclear processes such as transcription. Therefore, the canonical nucleosome structure has to be altered into different, non-canonical structures to increase DNA accessibility. While it is recognised that non-canonical structures do exist, these structures are not well understood. In this review, we discuss both the evidence for various non-canonical nucleosome structures in the nucleus and the factors that are believed to induce these structures. The wide range of non-canonical structures is likely to regulate the amount of accessible DNA, and thus have important nuclear functions.</p>","PeriodicalId":10248,"journal":{"name":"Chromosoma","volume":"132 3","pages":"139-152"},"PeriodicalIF":2.5000,"publicationDate":"2023-09-01","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":"2","resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":null,"PeriodicalName":"Chromosoma","FirstCategoryId":"99","ListUrlMain":"https://doi.org/10.1007/s00412-023-00791-w","RegionNum":4,"RegionCategory":"生物学","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":null,"EPubDate":"","PubModel":"","JCR":"Q3","JCRName":"BIOCHEMISTRY & MOLECULAR BIOLOGY","Score":null,"Total":0}
引用次数: 2
Abstract
The nucleosome is a DNA-protein assembly that is the basic unit of chromatin. A nucleosome can adopt various structures. In the canonical nucleosome structure, 145-147 bp of DNA is wrapped around a histone heterooctamer. The strong histone-DNA interactions cause the DNA to be inaccessible for nuclear processes such as transcription. Therefore, the canonical nucleosome structure has to be altered into different, non-canonical structures to increase DNA accessibility. While it is recognised that non-canonical structures do exist, these structures are not well understood. In this review, we discuss both the evidence for various non-canonical nucleosome structures in the nucleus and the factors that are believed to induce these structures. The wide range of non-canonical structures is likely to regulate the amount of accessible DNA, and thus have important nuclear functions.
期刊介绍:
Chromosoma publishes research and review articles on the functional organization of the eukaryotic cell nucleus, with a particular emphasis on the structure and dynamics of chromatin and chromosomes; the expression and replication of genomes; genome organization and evolution; the segregation of genomes during meiosis and mitosis; the function and dynamics of subnuclear compartments; the nuclear envelope and nucleocytoplasmic interactions, and more.
The scope of Chromosoma encompasses genetic, biophysical, molecular and cell biological studies.
Average time from receipt of contributions to first decision: 22 days
Publishes research and review articles on the functional organization of the eukaryotic cell nucleus
Topics include structure and dynamics of chromatin and chromosomes; the expression and replication of genomes; genome organization and evolution; the segregation of genomes during meiosis and mitosis and more
Encompasses genetic, biophysical, molecular and cell biological studies.