Abstract

In vitro reconstituted chromatin is a model of chromatin found in the nuclei of eukaryotes. A variety of DNA templates and proteins prepared using recombinant technology allow the production of reasonable amounts of well-defined nucleosomes and nucleosome arrays. I will cover an introduction to chromatin, briefly describe production, and biophysical methods used to address some questions related to compaction and decompaction of chromatin. The regulation of compaction-decompaction of chromatin is a fundamental question of biology related to gene regulation in development, cancer and general well-being.