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Micro World

How small is a nucleosome?

A nucleosome is about 11 nm across.

What is measured: DNA wrapped around histone core

Nucleosome (11 nm) drawn to scale beside a DNA double helix (2 nm) and a ribosome (25 nm)
Drawn to scale, from left to right: DNA double helix (2 nm), Nucleosome (11 nm) and Ribosome (25 nm).

Compare

How big is that, really?

  • About 2 would fit across a ribosome
  • As wide as about 5 DNA double helices side by side
  • About 9 would fit across a flu virus

Learn

Facts about Nucleosome

A nucleosome packages about 147 base pairs of DNA around eight histone proteins, the basic unit of chromatin.

Source: NCBI Bookshelf: Molecular Biology of the Cell, Chromatin structure

Micro World

NameSizeCompared with Nucleosome
Bacteriorhodopsin Molecule5 nm0.45×
Transfer RNA Molecule8 nm0.73×
Amyloid Beta Fibril10 nm0.91×
Semiconductor Quantum Dot10 nm0.91×
Nucleosome11 nmthis page
Ferritin Molecule12 nm1.1×
Colloidal Gold Nanoparticle20 nm1.8×
Bacteriophage Phi X17427 nm2.5×
Qβ Bacteriophage28 nm2.5×
Silver Nanoparticle40 nm3.6×

Test your sense of scale

Which is bigger: Nucleosome or Transfer RNA Molecule?

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