NUCLEOSOME ORGANIZATION IN PLANT DNA SATELLITES

Abstract

Satellite DNA, consisting of tandem repeats, forms heterochromatic regions packed into nucleosomes. Sequence and conformational DNA features responsible for the high efficiency of this package have been sought with a Fourier transform. The curvature profiles in tandem repeats differ significantly from a random model. As many as 50 % of the monomers have a periodicity of DNA bends in the vicinity of 170 bp, fitting the wrapping length of a single nucleosome within two highest-order harmonics in the DNA curvature profile. The nucleosome positioning scheme in subtelomeric satellites in plants differs from that in centromeric satellites.

Keywords

• nucleosome
• positioning
• fourier transform
• satellite repeats