Theoretical models of possible compact nucleosome structures

Chromatin structure seems related to the DNA linker length. This paper presents a systematic search of the possible chromatin structure as a function of the linker lengths, starting from three different low-resolution molecular models of the nucleosome. Gay-Berne potential was used to evaluate the relative nucleosome packing energy. Results suggest that linker DNAs, which bridges and orientate nucleosomes, affect both the geometry and the rigidity of the global chromatin structure.