  This work reviews current theoretical approaches of biophysics and
bioinformatics for the description of nucleosome arrangements in chromatin and
transcription factor binding to nucleosomal organized DNA. The role of
nucleosomes in gene regulation is discussed from molecular-mechanistic and
biological point of view. In addition to classical problems of this field,
actual questions of epigenetic regulation are discussed. The authors selected
for discussion what seem to be the most interesting concepts and hypotheses.
Mathematical approaches are described in a simplified language to attract
attention to the most important directions of this field.
