Histones bind to contractile proteins and inhibit actomyosin ATPase

Nuclear histones bind to and precipitate the major contractile proteins, actin and myosin. The binding of histone to actin seems to reach saturation at 2:1 ratio, the interaction may serve some regulatory function(s) in intranuclear events. The binding of histone to myosin is not saturable, and, although it inhibits the actin-activated Mg2+-dependent myosin ATPase activity, does therefore not seem of physiological importance.