Bent DNA is a structural feature of scaffold-attached regions in Drosophila melanogaster interphase nuclei

In this study the SAR DNA (scaffold attached region DNA) of some Drosophila genes was analyzed. Bent DNA regions were found to be present in all SAR DNA fragments analyzed here. Bent non-SAR DNA exhibits SAR-like properties when it is exogenously added to lithium 3,5-di-iodosalicylate-extracted Drosophila nuclear scaffolds. Thus the presence of bent regions within SAR DNA fragments might be a prerequisite for the SAR-like behavior of a DNA fragment.