Histones and Nucleosomes Flashcards
How many nucleotides per nucleosome?
200 bp
How many nucleotides would be left after limit digestion (maximum, extreme digestion)?
146 bp
Which histone is not present in the 10 nm fiber and is required to form the 30 nm fiber?
H1
Which histones comprise the eukaryotic nucleosome?
H3, H4, H2A, H2B
Which histones are the most ancient and can be found in Archaea?
H3 and H4
How does the Archaeal nucleosome differ from eukaryotic nucleosomes?
Archaeal nucleosome is a tetramer and the eukaryotic is an octomer of two copies each of H4/H3 and H2A/H2B
Do Archaeal histones have tails? Why or why not?
does not have to have a histone code to control condensation of chromatin
explain how histones are related to 10 nm fibers
- composed of dsDNA and nucleosome
- beads on a string structure
- fundamental unit of structure for the chromosome
what is the general structure of the nucleosome?
- 200 bp of DNA
- two copies of each core histone, H2A and H2B form a dimer at the ends while H3 and H4 form a tetramer at the core
- histone fold (helix - turn - helix - turn - helix) located at the core
- histone tails at N terminal of both faces of the nucleosome
what is the structure of histone tails?
- N terminal
- flexible and disordered
- exit from both faces of the nucleosome between turns of DNA
- no set structure, no loops, or alpha helices
- site of the histone code
what is the difference between HAT and HDAC?
- HAT = histone acetyltransferase, associated with activation and adds acetyl groups
- HDAC = histone deactylase, associated with repression and removes acetyl groups
chromatin structure
- has compact organization in which most DNA sequences are structurally inaccessible and functionally inactive
- 60% protein (half = histones), 30 % DNA, and 10% RNA
how much DNA is recovered in nucleosomes or multimers when micrococcal nuclease cleaves DNA of chromatin?
more than 95%
- the length of DNA per nucleosome varies for individual tissues in a ranfe from 154 - 260 bp with an average of 200 bp
how is nucleosomal DNA divided?
- core DNA and linker DNA
- depends on the DNA’s susceptibility to micrococcal nuclease
low DNase (nicking)
- 200 bp
- mono-nucleosomes
high DNase (limit digestion)
- 146 bp
- core particles
what would the average size of the fragments of chromatin be if you added just enough nuclease to hit once per nucleosome?
200 bp
how many times does DNA wrap around the histone octamer?
1.67 times
- 165 bp
what are the most conserved proteins known?
H3 and H4
which proteins have species specific variations in sequence?
- H2A and H2B
- H1 but also tissue species specific variability
what is the role of histone H1 in chromatin?
- can form pre-nucleosome with mammalian H3/H4
- not in archaea