Identification of a troponin-I like protein in platelet preparations as histone H2B

A tropomyosin-binding protein (app. Mr 17000) was detected in equine platelet preparations by a gel overlay technique. Its isolation, amino acid and partial sequence analyses have shown it to be histone H2B. As with a similar protein from pig platelet preparations [der Terrossian et al. (1983) FEBS Lett. 152, 202-206], it inhibits Mg2+-dependent actomyosin S1 ATPase. This inhibition is partially reversed in the presence of calmodulin and Ca2+ but is not potentiated, unlike troponin-I, by tropomyosin. This protein, along with the other histones, is almost certainly derived from a low level of contaminating nucleated cells in most platelet preparations.