Life Sciences Nanotheater

Nucleosomal DNA

TappingMode image of nucleosomal DNA was the highlight of the "Practical Course on Atomic Force Microscopy in Biology," held at the Biozentrum in Basel, Switzerland, July 1998. Image courtesy of Y. Lyubchenko.

Reconstituted nucleosome cores were loaded onto plasmid DNA sequences (courtesy of Prof. Lohr). The nucleosome is 11 nm x 5.5 nm and contains a protein core about which is wrapped 1.75 turns of DNA. The horizontal streaks in the image are due to incorrect "flattening" of the image during processing.