chromatin

What: "Chromatin is the very tightly packed form of chromosomes that permit tens of thousands of genes to fit neatly into each tiny human cell. Chromatin is like a ball of yarn made up of chromosomes."

Writer: DR. ALAN PERCY

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Date: Dec 12 2012 6:41 PM

What: "Chromatin is like a roller coaster because it twists and turns like a roller coaster."

Writer: Jessica Outrich

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Date: Dec 12 2012 6:45 PM

What: Chromatin is a combination of protein and DNA that occurs in the Eukaryotic nucleus. The ball portion in this analogy is the protein portion which is made of positively charge amino acids that bind to the negative charges of the DNA spaghetti. The DNA is wrapped around the protein which enables a very long piece of DNA to be stored in a very small space.

Writer: mattyflynn

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Where: Reference Link Has Evaporated

Date: Dec 12 2012 7:07 PM

What: Everyone has seen a role of toilet paper. It's a very thin and long piece of paper wrapped tightly around a cardboard roll. It's made this way so that the role fits into your bathroom. Unwound, a roll of toilet paper may be around 100ft long, as anyone who has thrown can attest. Eukaryotic DNA is compressed around histones so that it can fit into the nucleus, like toilet paper is compressed around a cardboard center so that fits in your bathroom.

Writer: mattyflynn

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Where: Reference Link Has Evaporated

Date: Dec 12 2012 7:18 PM

What:

"This 3 level helix hierarchy is a model for how the 30 nm chromatin fiber is packaged into a condensed chromosome. The rubber band example demonstrates that the structure can form just using internal elastic forces and contact forces that prevent the fiber from passing through itself. The same physical mechanism could turn uncondensed chromatin into a condensed chromosome. Instead of twisting the chromatin, torsional stress could be induced by changing the environment ionic strength or by the action of proteins."

Writer: Tom Goddard

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Date: Oct 16 2014 5:19 PM