Isolation and tissue specificity of chromatin-associated proteins in Vicia faba

A method is described that permits extraction of one class of non-histones in 8 M urea minus 0.14 M mercaptoethanol prior to acid extraction of histones and a second class in 0.05 M Tris -1% sodium dodecyl sulfate following acid extraction of histones. Comparisons of histones and non-histones extracted by this method with those obtained by other procedures demonstrate two important advantages of the method; (1) histones obtained by this method are not contaminated by acid-soluble non-histones, and (2) non-histones are not subjected to acid or phenol during extraction. Changes in the distributions of chromatin-associated proteins in different tissues suggest that some species represent regulators of gene action.