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Assembly of Nucleosomal Arrays from Recombinant Core Histones and Nucleosome Positioning DNA
Published on: September 11, 2013
Preferential and asymmetric interaction of linker histones with 5S DNA in the nucleosome
1Laboratory of Molecular Embryology, National Institute of Child Health and Human Development, National Institutes of Health, Bethesda, MD 20892.
Abstract:
We establish that linker histones H1 and H5 bind preferentially to a Xenopus borealis somatic 5S RNA gene associated with an octamer of core histones rather than to naked 5S DNA. This preferential binding requires free linker DNA to either side of the nucleosome core. Incorporation of a single linker histone molecule into the nucleosome protects an additional 20 bp of linker DNA from micrococcal nuclease digestion. This additional DNA is asymmetrically distributed with respect to the nucleosome core. Incorporation of linker histones causes no change to the cleavage of DNA in the nucleosome by hydroxyl radical or DNase I.
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