On the size of the DNA in the mammalian chromosome. Structural subunits.

Alkaline degradation of mammalian DNA indicates that the molecule exists in the chromosome as an array of structural subunits. The size of the subunit of single-stranded DNA is circa 5 x 10(8) daltons, and it is of sufficient length to contain a number of synthetic units, replicons. The upper size limit of the multicomponent structure is in excess of 10(10) daltons. Mammalian cells of three different origins have been shown to contain the same basic structural DNA components and these components exist throughout the cell cycle. The nature of the links between the subunits is not known.