The N tails of histones H3 and H4 adopt a highly structured conformation in the nucleosome 1 1Edited by T. Richmond

Autor: Joseph Parello, Aimée Martin, Jean-Louis Banères
Rok vydání: 1997
Předmět:
Zdroj: Journal of Molecular Biology. 273:503-508
ISSN: 0022-2836
DOI: 10.1006/jmbi.1997.1297
Popis: The histone N tails correspond to conserved amino acid sequences that are peripherally located in the nucleosome and undergo a variety of post-synthetic modifications during cell cycle. These N tails have been recently recognized as directly interacting with transcription-related proteins. We show here, based on circular dichroic evidence, that the N tails of both tetrameric histones H3 and H4 are highly organized as DNA-bound polypeptide segments in the nucleosome core particle, with about half of their residues, taken together, being α-helical. In contrast, the N tails of both dimeric histones H2A and H2B are found essentially in a random-coil conformation. The implications of these findings on nucleosome structure and recognition are discussed.
Databáze: OpenAIRE