Strong nucleosomes of A. thaliana concentrate in centromere regions.

Earlier identified strongest nucleosome DNA sequences of A. thaliana, those with visible 10-11 base sequence periodicity, are mapped along chromosomes. Resulting positional distributions reveal distinct maxima, one per chromosome, located in the centromere regions. Sequence-directed nucleosome mapping demonstrates that the strong nucleosomes (SNs) make tight arrays, several 'parallel' nucleosomes each, suggesting a columnar chromatin structure. The SNs represent a new class of centromeric nucleosomes, presumably, participating in synapsis of chromatids and securing the centromere architecture.