Histone H2A.F/Z subfamily: the smallest member and the signature sequence

The nucleotide sequence of a 700 basepair cDNA obtained from rabbit bladder was determined. It encodes a 123 amino acid protein, which is the smallest member of histone H2A.F/Z subfamily. The known H2A.F/Z variants are highly conserved in their central core regions of about 100 amino acids but more divergent in their N- and C-terminal ends. In addition to the seven amino acid signature sequence previously known for the H2A proteins, all the cloned H2A.F/Z variants contain an identical peptide sequence, L-E-Y-L-T-A-E-V-L-E-L-A-G-N-A. This 15 amino acid motif is proposed here as the signature sequence to identify new members of the H2A.F/Z subfamily.