| Project/Area Number |
11837019
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| Research Category |
Grant-in-Aid for Scientific Research (C)
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| Allocation Type | Single-year Grants |
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| Section | 一般 |
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| Research Institution | College of Nagoya Bunri University |
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Principal Investigator |
YOSHIKAWA Yuko Nagoya Bunji College, assosicate professor, 食物栄養学科, 助教授 (80291871)
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| Project Period (FY) |
1999 – 2001
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| Project Status |
Completed (Fiscal Year 2001)
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| Budget Amount *help |
¥3,000,000 (Direct Cost: ¥3,000,000)
Fiscal Year 2001: ¥600,000 (Direct Cost: ¥600,000)
Fiscal Year 2000: ¥600,000 (Direct Cost: ¥600,000)
Fiscal Year 1999: ¥1,800,000 (Direct Cost: ¥1,800,000)
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| Keywords | long duplex DNA / higher order structure / fluorescence microscopy / histone H1 / laser manipulation / レーザー / ヒストンH1 |
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| Research Abstract |
Compaction of DNA is a common feature in native genomes, e.g., in chromatin or phage heads. The manner of packaging is expected to play an essential role in the biological functions of DNA, such as replication and transcription.
I have made direct observations on the conformational change of individual long duplex DNA molecules using fluorescence microscopy. It has been shown that giant DNAs exhibits an all-or-none change, or switching, in the folding transition. I have also reported that complexes of DNA-histone HI form a pearl necklace-like structure when the complexes were prepared by a natural dilution from a high salt solution to a low salt solution. In addition, we have applied laser-tweezers to manipulate the DNA-histone H1 under the real time observation with fluorescence microscopy. When the DNA-H1 complex is optically transported from a low-salt solution to a high-salt solution, its conformation changes from a compact to an elongated structure. With the reverse procedure, the elongated chain shrinks into a compact state. Laser manipulation is expected to be a powerful tool for research on the dynamics of various biomolecules mimicking intracellular processes.
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