CHROMATIN STRUCTURE AND ANALYSIS OF MECHANISMS OF ACTIVATORS AND REPRESSORS

Some transcriptional repressors appear to organize chromatin structure as at least part of their mechanism. Some transcriptional activators appear to alter or remodel chromatin structure as at least part of the ir mechanism. Understanding transcriptional regulation thus requires m ethods for investigation of the chromatin structure of specific genes in different states of functional activity. This paper reviews chemica l and enzymatic approaches to determination of chromatin structure, th e methods used for analysis of the results, and criteria for interpret ation of the data to infer chromatin structures. (C) 1998 Academic Pre ss.