title: The histone octamer influences the wrapping direction of DNA on it: Brownian dynamics simulation of the nucleosome chirality.
abstract: In eukaryote nucleosome, DNA wraps around a histone octamer in a left-handed way. We study the process of chirality formation of nucleosome with Brownian dynamics simulation. We model the histone octamer with a quantitatively adjustable chirality: left-handed, right-handed or non-chiral, and simulate the dynamical wrapping process of a DNA molecule on it. We find that the chirality of a nucleosome formed is strongly dependent on that of the histone octamer, and different chiralities of the histone octamer induce its different rotation directions in the wrapping process of DNA. In addition, a very weak chirality of the histone octamer is quite enough for sustaining the correct chirality of the nucleosome formed. We also show that the chirality of a nucleosome may be broken at elevated temperature.
authors.affiliation: Laboratory of Soft Matter Physics, Beijing National Laboratory for Condensed Matter Physics, Institute of Physics, Chinese Academy of Sciences, Beijing 100080, China.
authors.forename: Wei
authors.initials: W
authors.lastname: Li
authors.forename: Shuo-Xing
authors.initials: SX
authors.lastname: Dou
authors.forename: Peng-Ye
authors.initials: PY
authors.lastname: Wang
mesh_terms: D000818:Animals; D003198:Computer Simulation; D004247:DNA / Q000235:genetics; D006657:Histones / Q000235:genetics*; D008957:Models, Genetic; D009707:Nucleosomes; D011487:Protein Conformation; D020033:Protein Isoforms / Q000235:genetics*
chemical_list: D006657:Histones; D009707:Nucleosomes; D020033:Protein Isoforms; D004247:DNA