Some unusual features of Physarum polycephalum chromatin are due to the presence of slime

Chromatin of lower eukaryote Physarum polycephalum, while showing typical nucleosomal organization, reveals upon digestion with micrococcal nuclease certain features not found in chromatins of higher eukaryotes, the most pronounced of which is the unusual pattern of degradation of core-size DNA, without accumulation of subcore fragments. It has been shown that these peculiarities are not due to intrinsic features of Physarum nucleohistone complex but to the presence of a specific polysaccharide, the main component of Physarum slime, contaminating chromatin preparations.