molecular biology Molecular biology is the branch of biology that seeks to understand the molecular basis of biological activity in and between cells, including biomolecular synthesis, modification, mechanisms, and interactions. The study of chemical and phys ...

, linker DNA is double-stranded DNA (38-53 base pairs long) in between two

nucleosome A nucleosome is the basic structural unit of DNA packaging in eukaryotes. The structure of a nucleosome consists of a segment of DNA wound around eight histone proteins and resembles thread wrapped around a spool. The nucleosome is the fundamen ...

cores that, in association with

histone H1 Histone H1 is one of the five main histone protein families which are components of chromatin in eukaryotic cells. Though highly conserved, it is nevertheless the most variable histone in sequence across species. Structure Metazoan H1 prote ...

, holds the cores together. Linker DNA is seen as the string in the "beads and string model", which is made by using an

ionic solution An electrolyte is a medium containing ions that is electrically conducting through the movement of those ions, but not conducting electrons. This includes most soluble salts, acids, and bases dissolved in a polar solvent, such as water. Upon d ...

on the

chromatin Chromatin is a complex of DNA and protein found in eukaryote, eukaryotic cells. The primary function is to package long DNA molecules into more compact, denser structures. This prevents the strands from becoming tangled and also plays important ...

. Linker DNA connects to histone H1 and histone H1 sits on the nucleosome core. Nucleosome is technically the consolidation of a nucleosome core and one adjacent linker DNA; however, the term nucleosome is used freely for solely the core. Linker DNA may be degraded by

endonuclease Endonucleases are enzymes that cleave the phosphodiester bond within a polynucleotide chain. Some, such as deoxyribonuclease I, cut DNA relatively nonspecifically (without regard to sequence), while many, typically called restriction endonuclease ...

s.Molecular Biology of The Cell, Fifth Edition, Alberts et al., Garland Science, 2008 The linkers are short double stranded DNA segments which are formed of

oligonucleotide Oligonucleotides are short DNA or RNA molecules, oligomers, that have a wide range of applications in genetic testing, research, and forensics. Commonly made in the laboratory by solid-phase chemical synthesis, these small bits of nucleic acids ...

s. These contain target sites for the action of one or more

restriction enzyme A restriction enzyme, restriction endonuclease, REase, ENase or'' restrictase '' is an enzyme that cleaves DNA into fragments at or near specific recognition sites within molecules known as restriction sites. Restriction enzymes are one class ...

s. The linkers can be synthesized chemically and can be ligated to the blunt end of foreign DNA or

vector DNA In molecular cloning, a vector is any particle (e.g., plasmids, cosmids, Lambda phages) used as a vehicle to artificially carry a foreign nucleic sequence – usually DNA – into another cell, where it can be replicated and/or expressed. A v ...

. These are then treated with restriction endonuclease enzyme to produce cohesive ends of DNA fragments. The commonly used linkers are EcoRI-linkers and sal-I linkers.

References

External links

Image illustrating linker DNA
DNA Electrochemistry {{electrochem-stub