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Nucleic Acids Research, 1977, Vol. 4, No. 11 3839-3854
© 1977

Articles

Structural transition in chromatin induced by ions in solution

Hsueh Jei Li, Ali W. Hu, Rose A. Maciewicz, Patricia Cohen, Regina M. Santella and Catherine Chang

Division of Cell and Molecular Biology, State University of New York at Buffalo Buffalo, NY 14260 and Department of Chemistry, Brooklyn College of City University of New York Brooklyn, NY 11210. USA

Received August 15, 1977. Structural transition In chromatin was measured as a function of counter ions in solution (NaCl or MgCl2) and of histones bound on the DNA. The addition of counter ions to aqueous solutions of chromatin, partially dehistonized chromatin, and DNA caused a drastic reduction in viscosity and a significant increase in sedimentation coefficient. Transitions occurred primarily at about 2 x 10–3 M NaCl and 1 x 105 M MgCl2, and are interpreted as a change in structure of chromatin induced by tight binding of cations (Na+ or Mg++) to DNA, either free or bound by histones, and is an intrinsic property of DNA rather than of the type of histone bound. At a given ionic condition, removal of histone Hl from chromatin had only a minor effect on the hydrodynamic properties of chromatin while removal of other histones caused a drastic change in these properties. An Increase in the sedimentation coefficient of DNA was observed also for protamine. DNA complexes wherein the bound protein contains only unordered coil rather than the {alpha}-helices found in histones


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