"Acetylation (adding an acetyl group) and phosphorylation (adding a phosphate group) make the histones more negatively charged because acetyl and phosphoryl groups are negative. They are "glass is half empty" molecules. By making histones more negatively charged, their grip on DNA will be much looser because DNA is also negatively charged. Similar charges (negative and negative) repel one another".
I know oxygen and carbon have different electronegativities but that generates a partial negative charge and a partial positive charge. So why do we consider the negative charge prevails over the positive charge in order to histones "repel" DNA?
