ABSTRACT The interplay between transcription factors, chromatin remodelers, 3-D organization, and mechanical properties of the chromatin fiber controls genome function in eukaryotes. Besides the canonical histones which fold the bulk of the chromatin into nucleosomes, histone variants create distinctive chromatin domains that are thought to regulate transcription, replication, DNA damage repair, and faithful chromosome segregation. Whether histone variants translate distinctive biochemical or biophysical properties to their associated chromatin structures, and whether these properties impact chromatin dynamics as the genome undergoes a multitude of transactions, is an important question in biology. Here, we describe single-molecule nanoindentation tools that we developed specifically to determine the mechanical properties of histone variant nucleosomes and their complexes. These methods join an array of cutting-edge new methods that further our quantitative understanding of the response of chromatin to intrinsic and extrinsic forces which act upon it during biological transactions in the nucleus.

中文翻译：

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纳米压痕光谱法测定核蛋白复合物的机械性能

摘要 转录因子、染色质重塑剂、3-D 组织和染色质纤维的机械特性之间的相互作用控制着真核生物的基因组功能。除了将大部分染色质折叠成核小体的经典组蛋白外，组蛋白变体还产生了独特的染色质域，被认为可以调节转录、复制、DNA 损伤修复和忠实的染色体分离。组蛋白变体是否将独特的生化或生物物理特性转化为它们相关的染色质结构，以及这些特性是否在基因组经历大量交易时影响染色质动力学，是生物学中的一个重要问题。这里，我们描述了我们专门开发的单分子纳米压痕工具，用于确定组蛋白变体核小体及其复合物的机械特性。这些方法加入了一系列前沿的新方法，进一步定量了解染色质对细胞核生物交易过程中作用于染色质的内在和外在力的反应。