Eur. Phys. J. E (2006) 19: 241-249
https://doi.org/10.1140/epje/i2005-10067-9

Focus Point

Polymer chain models of DNA and chromatin

Division Biophysics of Macromolecules, German Cancer Research Center, Im Neuenheimer Feld 580, D-69120, Heidelberg, Germany

^* e-mail: jl@dkfz-heidelberg.de

Received: 30 September 2005
Accepted: 31 January 2006
Published online: 20 March 2006

Abstract

Many properties of the genome in the cell nucleus can be understood by modeling DNA and chromatin as a flexible polymer chain. This article introduces into current models for such a coarse-grained description and reviews some recent results from our own group. Examples given are the unrolling of DNA from the histone core and the response of the 30nm chromatin fiber to mechanical stretching.