A segment of eukaryotic chromatin contains exactly 2000 base pairs of DNA. Assuming typical packaging, what is the total number of individual histone protein molecules present in the core octamers of this segment?

Step-by-step solution

According to NCERT, a typical nucleosome contains 200 base pairs (bp) of DNA helix. First, calculate the number of nucleosomes in the given segment: Number of nucleosomes = 2000 bp 200 bp per nucleosome = 10 nucleosomes. Next, recall that the core of each nucleosome is formed by a histone octamer, which consists of 8 histone protein molecules. Total number of histone molecules in the core octamers = 10 nucleosomes 8 histones per core = 80 histone molecules. The value 10 represents only the number of nucleosomes. Th