Abstract
The folding and unfolding of the chromatin fibre is a fundamental control point for the regulation of eukaryotic transcription. Although recent efforts have elucidated many of the mechanistic elaborations that regulate this process, the underlying mechanical basis of the folding transitions is poorly understood. Here I present a novel solution to the so-called 'linking number paradox' problem (Finch et al., 1977) and show that this solution implies that the chromatin fibre acts a tunable coil. The folding/unfolding process is essentially a topological transition in which the wrapping of DNA around the nucleosome core particle is directly coupled to degree of compaction of the coil.
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Acknowledgement
I am most grateful to Ernesto Di Mauro for suggesting the term 'tunable' and especially to the organisers of a recent workshop on the Mathematics of DNA Structure, Function and Interac- tions held at the Institute of Mathematics and its Applications at the University of Minnesota in Minneapolis for bringing this problem to my attention again.
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Travers, A. (2009). Paradox Regained: a Topological Coupling of Nuclesomal DNA Wrapping and Chromatin Fibre Coiling. In: Benham, C., Harvey, S., Olson, W., Sumners, D., Swigon, D. (eds) Mathematics of DNA Structure, Function and Interactions. The IMA Volumes in Mathematics and its Applications, vol 150. Springer, New York, NY. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-1-4419-0670-0_15
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DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/978-1-4419-0670-0_15
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