Assessment of estrogen receptor--histone interactions

Several different in vitro binding assays show that the estrogen receptor from rabbit uterus interacts selectively with purified histones from calf thymus. The estrogen receptor binds strongly to histones H2B and H2A, moderately to histones H3 and H4, and poorly to histone H1. In the presence of histones H2B or H2A, the position at which the estrogen receptor focuses in an isoelectric gradient is shifted to a more basic zone. Kinetic experiments show that, if histone H2B is bound to a DNA, the estrogen receptor dissociates more slowly from that DNA. The portion of the estrogen receptor molecule required for binding to histone H2B is relatively stable to tryptic digestion; in contrast, the portion of the receptor molecule responsible for DNA binding is promptly lost during limited tryptic digestion. These in vitro findings suggest that the mechanism by which the estrogen receptor selectively alters gene expression may involve specific contacts with histone molecules.