DNA structure, nucleosome placement and chromatin remodelling: a perspective

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Probing The Structure And Dynamics Of Nucleosomes Using Atomic Force Microscopy Imaging
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Probing The Structure And Dynamics Of Nucleosomes Using Atomic Force Microscopy Imaging

Published on: January 31, 2019

Andrew A Travers1, Cédric Vaillant, Alain Arneodo

  • 1MRC Laboratory of Molecular Biology, Hills Road, Cambridge CB2 0QH, U.K. aat@mrc-lmb.cam.ac.uk

Biochemical Society Transactions
|March 23, 2012
PubMed

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Each human somatic cell contains 6 billion base-pairs of DNA. Each base-pair is 0.34 nm long, which means that each diploid cell contains a staggering 2 meters of DNA. How is such a long DNA strand packed inside a nucleus measuring only 10 - 20 microns in diameter? 
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