research
Chromatin Flavors: Chromatin composition and domain organization in Drosophila melanogaster
- Publication date
- 9 May 2012
- Publisher
- Chromatin was originally identified by
W. Flemming in 1882 as not much more
than the stainable substance of the cell
nucleus. Flemming named this substance
according to the Greek word “chroma”,
meaning color. In 1911 chromatin was
characterized as proteins, named histones,
that were attached to nucleic acid (DNA). In the following years it became clear
that chromatin formed the structural basis
of genetic information. Not until more
than 30 years later the DNA, and not the
histone proteins as was widely expected,
was identified as the carrier of the genetic
information. In 1952 the role of DNA
in inheritance was confirmed and not
much later Watson and Crick discovered
the double-helical structure of DNA
based on the DNA crystal analyses of
Franklin, Gosling and Wilkins.