Correlated and decorrelated positional and orientational order in the nucleosomal core particle mesophases

¹ Laboratoire de Physique Mathématique et Théorique, Université Montpellier II F-34095 Montpellier, France
² Department of Physics, Faculty of Mathematics and Physics, University of Ljubljana and Department of Theoretical Physics, J. Stefan Institute - SI-1000 Ljubljana, Slovenia
³ LPSB/NICHHD. Bld. 9, Rm. 1E-116, National Institutes of Health Bethesda, MD 20892-5626, USA
⁴ Institute of Biophysics, Medical Faculty, University of Ljubljana SI-1000 Ljubljana, Slovenia

Received: 16 June 2004
Accepted: 17 January 2005

Abstract

We investigate the orientational order of transverse-polarization vectors of long columns of nucleosomal core particles and their coupling to positional order in high-density mesophases discovered recently. Inhomogeneous polar ordering of these columns precipitates crystallization of the 2D sections with different orientations of the transverse-polarization vector on each column in the unit cell. We propose possible scenarios for going from the 2D hexagonal phase into distorted lamellar and related phases observed experimentally.