Additive scaling law for structural organization of chromatin in chicken erythrocyte nuclei
E.G. Iashina (St. Petersburg State University, Petersburg Nuclear Physics Institute (PNPI))
Evgenii Velichko (TU Delft - RST/Neutron and Positron Methods in Materials)
M.V. Filatov (Petersburg Nuclear Physics Institute (PNPI))
Wim Bouwman (TU Delft - RST/Neutron and Positron Methods in Materials)
CP Duif (TU Delft - RST/Neutron and Positron Methods in Materials)
A. Brulet (Leon Brillouin Laboratory)
S. V. Grigoriev (Petersburg Nuclear Physics Institute (PNPI), St. Petersburg State University)
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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.