A study of calf thymus histone fraction F2(b) by gel filtration

The gel-filtration behaviour of calf thymus histone fraction F2(b) was studied at three different salt concentrations (0.01m-, 0.10m- and 1.00m-sodium chloride) and two different pH ranges (pH3-4 and pH6.7-7.1). Other histone fractions [F1, F2(a) and F3] were also utilized to assist interpretation of the data. It was found that the Stokes radius of histone fraction F2(b) was not significantly changed when the salt concentration was increased, implying that the aggregation of the individual histone molecules (Edwards & Shooter, 1969) resulted in only relatively minor changes in the hydrodynamic volume. Aggregation would appear to be due to the salting out of hydrophobic regions giving rise, in the aggregate, to a compact core of hydrophobic groups from which protrude the remaining basic parts of the molecule. Repulsion between charged groups on the basic regions of individual histone molecules would give the aggregate approximately spherical symmetry, the diameter of the aggregate approximating to the length of a single histone molecule.