An Electrophoretic Comparison of Vertebrate Histones

Abstract

We have studied histones from a wide range of vertebrates with high resolution electrophoresis.There are five major electrophoretic fractions of histone in all somatic tissues in all species examined.Two fractions of histone have a constant electrophoretic mobility no matter what their source.Two fractions vary somewhat from class to class of vertebrate; and one fraction, the lysine-rich fraction, varies considerably in mobility, indicating substantial changes in its primary structure during evolution.This interpretation is confirmed by separation of the individual histone fractions and amino acid analysis.Electrophoretic heterogeneity is found within several of these fractions in good agreement with previous reports on calf histones (Panyim and Chalkley, Biochemistry 8, 39'72