Chromatin [Paperback]

Contemporary views on the structure and function of chromatin are presented and the history of the development of these ideas as well as the nature of the nucleic acid and protein components of chromatin are reviewed. The structure of chromatin is studied at several levels, and its modes of transcription and replication are analyzed. Chromatin provides researchers with a critical evaluation of current knowledge. It combines much information that has never before been assembled, and evaluates and interrelates it in a critical way. This has not been done before so that readers are not only provided with an overview, but with extensive references to the literature (there are about 2000 references in all).Contemporary views on the structure and function of chromatin are presented and the history of the development of these ideas as well as the nature of the nucleic acid and protein components of chromatin are reviewed. The structure of chromatin is studied at several levels, and its modes of transcription and replication are analyzed. Chromatin provides researchers with a critical evaluation of current knowledge. It combines much information that has never before been assembled, and evaluates and interrelates it in a critical way. This has not been done before so that readers are not only provided with an overview, but with extensive references to the literature (there are about 2000 references in all).1. The First Hundred Years.- 2. Development of the Nucleosome Model for Chromatin Structure.- 3. The Structures of DNA.- Composition and Modification of Eukaryotic DNA.- Conformations of DNA in the Solid State.- Hydration of DNA.- DNA Molecules in Solution.- Bent or Curved DNA.- Transformations from the B Form to Other DNA Conformations in Solution.- Topology of DNA: Supercoils and Cruciforms.- 4. The Proteins of Chromatin. I. Histones.- Occurrence and Distribution.- Isolation and Separation of Histones.- The Primary Structures of Hisl“.