Additive scaling law for structural organization of chromatin in chicken erythrocyte nuclei

Phys Rev E. 2017 Jul;96(1-1):012411. doi: 10.1103/PhysRevE.96.012411. Epub 2017 Jul 19.

Abstract

Small-angle neutron scattering (SANS) on nuclei of chicken erythrocytes demonstrates the cubic dependence of the scattering intensity Q^{-3} in the range of momentum transfer Q∈10^{-3}-10^{-2}nm^{-1}. Independent spin-echo SANS measurements give the spin-echo function, which is well described by the exponential law in a range of sizes (3×10^{2})-(3×10^{4}) nm. Both experimental dependences reflect the nature of the structural organization of chromatin in the nucleus of a living cell, which corresponds to the correlation function γ(r)=ln(ξ/r) for r<ξ, where ξ=(3.69±0.07)×10^{3} nm, the size of the nucleus. It has the specific scaling property of the logarithmic fractal γ(r/a)=γ(r)+ln(a), i.e., the scaling down by a gives an additive constant to the correlation function, which distinguishes it from the mass fractal, which is characterized by multiplicative constant.

MeSH terms

  • Animals
  • Cell Nucleus / chemistry*
  • Cell Nucleus / metabolism
  • Chickens
  • Chromatin / chemistry*
  • Chromatin / metabolism
  • DNA / chemistry
  • DNA / metabolism
  • Erythrocytes / chemistry*
  • Erythrocytes / metabolism
  • Fractals
  • Models, Biological*
  • Models, Molecular
  • Neutron Diffraction
  • Nucleic Acid Conformation
  • Scattering, Small Angle

Substances

  • Chromatin
  • DNA