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Published January 5, 1968 | public
Journal Article

The Biology of Isolated Chromatin

Abstract

The isolated chromatin of higher organisms possesses several properties characteristic of the same chromatin in life. These include the presence of histone bound to DNA, the state of repression of the genetic material, and the ability to serve as template for the readout of the derepressed portion of the genome by RNA polymerase. The important respect in which isolated chromatin differs from the material in vivo, fragmentation of DNA into pieces shorter (5 x 10^6 to 20 x 10^6 molecular weight) than the original, does not appear to importantly alter such transcription. The study of isolated chromatin has already revealed the material basis of the restriction of template activity; it is the formation of a complex between histone and DNA. Chromatin isolated by the methods now available, together with the basis provided by our present knowledge of chromatin biochemistry and biophysics, should make possible and indeed assure rapid increase in our knowledge of chromosomal structure and of all aspects of the control of gene activity and hence of developmental processes.

Additional Information

© 1968 American Association for the Advancement of Science. The work reported in this article was supported by PHS grants GM-13762 and predecessor grants AM-03102, GM-03977, GM-05143; NSF grants G-25150; Herman Frasch Foundation; PHS training grant GM-0086 (Dahmus); NSF predoctoral fellowship (Fambrough); and the Arthur Mccallum Fund of the California Institute of Technology (Tuan).

Additional details

Created:
August 19, 2023
Modified:
October 25, 2023