Small angle x-ray scattering was used to follow changes in the conformation and interactions of nucleosome core particles (NCP) as a function of the monovalent salt concentration C(s). The maximal extension (D(max)) of the NCP (145 +/- 3-bp DNA) increases from 137 +/- 5 A to 165 +/- 5 A when C(s) rises from 10 to 50 mM and remains constant with further increases of C(s) up to 200 mM. In view of the very weak increase of the R(g) value in the same C(s) range, we attribute this D(max) variation to tail extension, a proposal confirmed by simulations of the entire I(q) curves, considering an ideal solution of particles with tails either condensed or extended. This tail extension is observed at higher salt values when particles contain longer DNA fragments (165 +/- 10 bp). The maximal extension of the tails always coincides with the screening of repulsive interactions between particles. The second virial coefficient becomes smaller than the hard sphere virial coefficient and eventually becomes negative (net attractive interactions) for NCP(145). Addition of salt simultaneously screens Coulombic repulsive interactions between NCP and Coulombic attractive interactions between tails and DNA inside the NCP. We discuss how the coupling of these two phenomena may be of biological relevance.

Septins are cytoskeletal filaments that assemble at the inner face of the plasma membrane. They are localized at constriction sites and impact membrane remodeling. We report in vitro tools to examine how yeast septins behave on curved and deformable membranes. Septins reshape the membranes of Giant Unilamellar Vesicles with the formation of periodic spikes, while flattening smaller vesicles. We show that membrane deformations are associated to preferential arrangement of septin filaments on specific curvatures. When binding to bilayers supported on custom-designed periodic wavy patterns displaying positive and negative micrometric radii of curvatures, septin filaments remain straight and perpendicular to the curvature of the convex parts, while bending negatively to follow concave geometries. Based on these results, we propose a theoretical model that describes the deformations and micrometric curvature sensitivity observed in vitro. The model captures the reorganizations of septin filaments throughout cytokinesis in vivo, providing mechanistic insights into cell division.