Lecture 12: Chromatin Structure & DNA Replication Flashcards
(119 cards)
A diploid cell has how many base pairs of DNA?
About 6 billion
DNA is organized in the nucleus as?
Chromatin
Chromatin is a complex of what two things?
DNA and proteins.
Chromatin is dynamic, it can…
compact or expand, depending upon the circumstances
What is the organization component of DNA?
Histones
Overall structure of connected nucleosomes resembles. They are called?
Beads on a string. Histones (histones are proteins)
Nucleosomes
Histones and their associated DNA
Nucleosome consists of? Shortens?
DNA wrapped around a core made up of different histones. This structure shortens the DNA length about 7 fold.
In the nucleosome, _____________ 146 bp of DNA wraps ____________ times around a histone protein
146 bp of DNA wraps 1.75 times around a histone protein core
Histone core consists of how many proteins?
- 2 molecules each of histones H2A, H2B, H3 and H4. The term nucleosome refers to the DNA and the 8 core histones.
Chromatosome includes the
DNA, the 8 core histones, and histone H1, covering 165 bp.
Histone H1 is involved in
stabilizing higher order chromatin structures (NOT part of the core)
Histone tails are?
Modification sites.
The tighter the histone-DNA complexes, the more?
Difficult access for replication or transcription becomes.
Acetylation of the lysine residues (positively charged) in the histone reduces?
Interaction with the negatively charged DNA (more relaxed)
Histone acetyltransferases (HATs)
add acetyl groups to the lysines in histone tails (more relaxed)
Histone deacetylases (HDACs)
remove the acetyl groups
HDAC inhibitors
Block HDAC function. Used in cancer treatment.
Naked DNA
fully de-condensed, transcriptionally active
Histones and chromatosomes are found in?
interphase chromatin
Loop domains are anchored to?
Scaffold proteins
Mitotic chromsomes
fully condensed, transcriptionally silent
The structural organization of DNA regulates
gene expression. Proteins needed for transcription must be able to access the DNA.
Euchromatin
When the cell is not actively dividing (during interphase), much of the DNA exists as the more de-condensed 10 and 30 nm fibers organized as loop domains (transcriptionally active).