Identification of specific functional subdomains within the linker histone H10 C-terminal domain

Linker histone binding to nucleosomal arrays in vitro causes linker DNA to form an apposed stem motif, stabilizes extensively folded secondary chromatin structures, and promotes self-association of individual nucleosomal arrays into oligomeric tertiary chromatin structures. To determine the involvement of the linker histone C-terminal domain (CTD) in each of these functions, and to test the hypothesis that the functions of this highly basic domain are mediated by neutralization of linker DNA negative charge, four truncation mutants were created that incrementally removed stretches of 24 amino acids beginning at the extreme C terminus of the mouse H1(0) linker histone. Native and truncated H1(0) proteins were assembled onto biochemically defined nucleosomal arrays and characterized in the absence and presence of salts to probe primary, secondary, and tertiary chromatin structure. Results indicate that the ability of H1(0) to alter linker DNA conformation and stabilize condensed chromatin structures is localized to specific C-terminal subdomains, rather than being equally distributed throughout the entire CTD. We propose that the functions of the linker histone CTD in chromatin are linked to the characteristic intrinsic disorder of this domain.