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. 1994 Sep;14(9):5777-85.
doi: 10.1128/mcb.14.9.5777-5785.1994.

Unusual chromatin in human telomeres

H Tommerup  1 , A Dousmanis, T de Lange
Affiliations

Unusual chromatin in human telomeres

H Tommerup et al. Mol Cell Biol. 1994 Sep.

Abstract

We report that human telomeres have an unusual chromatin structure characterized by diffuse micrococcal nuclease patterns. The altered chromatin manifested itself only in human telomeres that are relatively short (2 to 7 kb). In contrast, human and mouse telomeres with telomeric repeat arrays of 14 to 150 kb displayed a more canonical chromatin structure with extensive arrays of tightly packed nucleosomes. All telomeric nucleosomes showed a shorter repeat size than bulk nucleosomes, and telomeric mononucleosomal particles were found to be hypersensitive to micrococcal nuclease. However, telomeric nucleosomes were similar to bulk nucleosomes in the rate at which they sedimented through sucrose gradients. We speculate that mammalian telomeres have a bipartite structure with unusual chromatin near the telomere terminus and a more canonical nucleosomal organization in the proximal part of the telomere.

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