Physical Review E 2017-07-19

Additive scaling law for structural organization of chromatin in chicken erythrocyte nuclei

E. G. Iashina, E. V. Velichko, M. V. Filatov, W. G. Bouwman, C. P. Duif, A. Brulet, and S. V. Grigoriev

Index: 10.1103/PhysRevE.96.012411

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Abstract

Small-angle neutron scattering (SANS) on nuclei of chicken erythrocytes demonstrates the cubic dependence of the scattering intensity Q−3 in the range of momentum transfer Q∈10−3–10−2nm−1. Independent spin-echo SANS measurements give the spin-echo function, which is well described by the exponential law in a range of sizes (3×102)–(3×104) nm. Both experimental dependences reflect the nature of the structural organization of chromatin in the nucleus of a living cell, which corresponds to the correlation function γ(r)=ln(ξ/r) for r<ξ, where ξ=(3.69±0.07)×103 nm, the size of the nucleus. It has the specific scaling property of the logarithmic fractal γ(r/a)=γ(r)+ln(a), i.e., the scaling down by a gives an additive constant to the correlation function, which distinguishes it from the mass fractal, which is characterized by multiplicative constant.