Neuronal tau associates with chromosome scaffold and localizes in the nuclear and the nucleolar organization regions in neuronal and some non-neuronal cells. Observing the interaction of neuronal tau with DNA under AFM shows that tau binds to DNA as a monomer, and tau-DNA complex forms a beads-on-a-string structure when the mass ratio is 1:10 (molar ratio of tau/DNA approximately 1:700 bp). A beads-on-a-coil structure, in which tau is as polymers, will appear when the mass ratio is up to 1:5 (molar ratio of tau/DNA approximately 1:350 bp). The present observation that neuronal tau bends the DNA double strands indicates that the appearance of the tau-DNA complex is dependent upon the mass (or molar) ratio of tau and DNA.