title: Nucleosome switches.
abstract: We present a statistical-mechanical model for the positioning of nucleosomes along genomic DNA molecules as a function of the strength of the binding potential and the chemical potential of the nucleosomes. We show that a significant section of the DNA is composed of two-level nucleosome switching regions where the nucleosome distribution undergoes a localized, first-order transition. The location of the nucleosome switches shows a strong correlation with the location of gene-regulation regions.
authors.affiliation: Department of Physics and Astronomy, University of California, Los Angeles, Los Angeles, California 90024, USA. djs47@physics.ucla.edu
authors.forename: David J
authors.initials: DJ
authors.lastname: Schwab
authors.forename: Robijn F
authors.initials: RF
authors.lastname: Bruinsma
authors.forename: Joseph
authors.initials: J
authors.lastname: Rudnick
authors.forename: Jonathan
authors.initials: J
authors.lastname: Widom
mesh_terms: D004247:DNA / Q000737:chemistry* / Q000235:genetics*; D008957:Models, Genetic; D009690:Nucleic Acid Conformation; D009707:Nucleosomes / Q000737:chemistry* / Q000235:genetics*
chemical_list: D009707:Nucleosomes; D004247:DNA