Understanding Physical Mechanisms in Chromatin Folding

Abstract

The mechanics of DNA, affecting its structures, control multiple biological processes such as growth, division and differentiation of a cell resulting in the development and survival of organisms. Packaging DNA inside a cell is a fundamental biophysical problem directly relevant to gene regulation. We used gel electrophoresis, AFM imaging and primarily Nanopore-based single-molecule technique to study these structural conformations. This thesis highlights our investigations on structural forms of DNA polymer and nucleosome arrays. This thesis is divided into six chapters, as summarized below.