Abstract
This chapter discusses the structure and function of tumor cell chromatin. The structural unit of chromatin, the nucleosome, consists of a well-defined length of DNA associated with an octamer aggregate of pairs of the histone proteins H2A, H2B, H3, and H4. This DNA comprises 140 base pairs (bp) and together with the histones represents the core particle, which seems to be highly conserved during evolution. The DNA linking two such nucleosomes varies in size and contains a region next to the 140 bp that interacts strongly with histone H1. The nucleosome seems to change its conformation in transcriptionally active chromatin and the change seems to be mediated by nonhistone proteins, HMG14 and HMG17 in the chicken red blood cell. Histone kinases are among the more important enzymes of chromatin. They introduce phosphate groups into serine, threonine, and possibly lysine and histidine residues of various histones and through this modification change the affinity of histone proteins toward DNA.
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