Additive scaling law for structural organization of chromatin in chicken erythrocyte nuclei

Small-angle neutron scattering (SANS) on nuclei of chicken erythrocytes demonstrates the cubic dependence

of the scattering intensity Q⁻³ in the range of momentum transfer Q ∈ 10⁻³–10⁻² nm⁻¹. Independent spin-echo

SANS measurements give the spin-echo function, which is well described by the exponential law in a range of

sizes (3 × 10²)–(3 × 10⁴) nm. Both experimental dependences reflect the nature of the structural organization of

chromatin in the nucleus of a living cell, which corresponds to the correlation function γ (r) = ln(ξ/r) for r < ξ,

where ξ = (3.69 ± 0.07) × 10³ nm, the size of the nucleus. It has the specific scaling property of the logarithmic

fractal γ (r/a) = γ (r) + ln(a), i.e., the scaling down by a gives an additive constant to the correlation function,

which distinguishes it from the mass fractal, which is characterized by multiplicative constant.

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