Studies on histone oligomers. II. Reconstitution of heterotype histone oligomers and pH dependency of oligomer formation.

ABSTRACT

Histone oligomers were reconstituted by annealing from dissociated calf thymus whole histones in 2 M NaCl-5 M urea. The products were fractionated in terms of solubility in ammonium sulfate solution. The oligomers formed at pH 5 were heterotype histone oligomers (H2A . H2B . H3 . H4)n at high ionic strength, and heterotype histone tetramer (H2A . H2B . H3 . H4) at low ionic strength. The pH dependency of oligomer formation was determined. Heterotype oligomers were formed at pH 4-6 and homotype oligomers at pH 7-9.