Yeast, rye, and calf histones. Similarities and differences detected by electrophoretic and immunological methods

Abstract

Yeast histones H2A, H2B and H3 were purified using the standard histone purification procedures of differential solubility and exclusion chromatography. Yeast histone H4 was isolated by the same methods in a fraction containing 1 other major protein component. The 4 yeast core histones were identified by their reactions with antisera against rye and (or) calf histone fractions as well as by their electrophoretic, chromatographic and solubility properties. The immunological distances between yeast H2B and rye and calf H2B fractions are substantial, as is the rye-calf distance for H2B. The immunological distance between yeast H2A and rye H2A is also large and is similar to the rye H2A - calf H2A distance. The immunological distance between yeast H3 and rye and calf H3 is much greater than that between rye H3 and calf H3. Yeast H3 apparently differs appreciably from the H3 of higher eukaryotes.