Mono-, di-, tri- ... polynucleosome, oligonucleosome, nucleofilament, nucleoplasmin: a terminological comment

The term nucleosome has been reinvented by OUDET et al. (1975), ignoring or disregarding earlier proposals of the same term, to indicate the structura l unit of the chromatin. Since this term means 'nuclear body', it is very i nadequate to qualify a particular organization of the chromatin. An identical critique is valid regarding all nucleosome derivatives (mono-, di-, tri-... polynucleosome, oligonucleosome, supernucleosome) and the rel ated terms nucleofilament (FINCH and KLUG 1976) and nucleoplasmin (LASKEY a nd EARNSHAW 1980). Owing to their linguistical weakness, an alternative terminology is brought to the attention of biologists.