Ratio between the number of base pairs present in DNA wrapped around a core of histone proteins and the number of nucleotides found in one linker DNA is

Options

A. 146:200
B. `73:54`
C. `73:108`
D. `146:108`

Answer

To find the ratio between the number of base pairs present in DNA wrapped around a core of histone proteins and the number of nucleotides found in one linker DNA, we can follow these steps:

### Step 1: Identify the number of base pairs in DNA wrapped around histone proteins.
- The DNA wrapped around a nucleosome (which is the core of histone proteins) consists of **146 base pairs**.

### Step 2: Identify the number of nucleotides in linker DNA.
- The linker DNA, which connects two nucleosomes, has an average of **108 base pairs**.

### Step 3: Set up the ratio.
- The ratio of the number of base pairs in DNA wrapped around histone proteins to the number of nucleotides in linker DNA can be expressed as:
\[ \text{Ratio} = \frac{\text{Base pairs in nucleosome}}{\text{Base pairs in linker DNA}} = \frac{146}{108} \]

### Step 4: Simplify the ratio.
- To simplify the ratio \( \frac{146}{108} \), we can divide both numbers by their greatest common divisor (GCD). The GCD of 146 and 108 is 2.
\[ \frac{146 \div 2}{108 \div 2} = \frac{73}{54} \]

### Final Answer:
- The simplified ratio between the number of base pairs present in DNA wrapped around a core of histone proteins and the number of nucleotides found in one linker DNA is **73:54**.

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