OBSOLETE. The controlled breakdown of chromatin from a higher order structure into its simpler subcomponents, DNA, histones, other proteins, and sometimes RNA.
Source:
http://www.infobiogen.fr/services/chromcancer/IntroItems/ChromatinEducEng.html,
PMID:20404130
Comment
This term has been obsoleted because this process doesn't happen independently from assembly and is always tied to chromatin remodeling.