Ada and Don Olins’ research cited as landmark discovery

The discovery of nucleosomes by Don Olins, Ph.D., and Ada Olins, Ph.D., both research professors in the Department of Pharmaceutical Sciences, was recently cited in a review article and timeline compilation of landmark discoveries and concepts on molecular and cellular aspects of chromatin that was published online.

In 1974, the Olins, by employing the electron microscope, discovered the nucleosome, the primal chromatin packaging structure.  They found that when visualized by this technique, chromatin appears to be a “string of beads,” where each bead is one nucleosome containing eight histone molecules, around which two coils of DNA are wrapped.  The nucleosome is fundamental to higher levels of chromatin packaging, and is the site of chemical modifications that possess genetic regulatory functions.

The Olins currently are engaged in research that is concerned with the higher levels of chromatin packaging, specifically focusing on the mechanisms that place genetically silent chromosomal regions (“heterochromatin”) at the periphery of the cell nucleus.

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