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Chromatin Compaction, Overview

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Chromatin compaction is the multistep folding of DNA into an increasingly compact chromosome, needed because a cell's total DNA vastly exceeds its nucleus in length.

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The DNA in one human cell's 46 chromosomes stretches roughly two meters end-to-end, yet fits in a nucleus micrometers across.

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DNA folds compactly at rest but stays accessible for genes to be read.