Separation and characterization of histones and acidic proteins from heart muscle and calf thymus

A method for the isolation of histones and acidic proteins extracted from rabbit heart and calf thymus chromatins has been studied. The histones present five major electrophoretic fractions in both tissues. Only lysine rich fraction in the heart splits into three peptides of different mobility. Amino acid composition of total histones shows values very similar in almost all components. The acidic proteins of rabbit heart and calf thymus have been characterized by sodium dodecyl sulphate polyacrylamide gel electrophoresis and by amino acid composition. The electrophoretic pattern reveals reproducible heterogeneous banding pattern from the two sources with different degree of phosphorylation. The amino acid composition of total acidic proteins is quite similar with the exception of serine content that in the heart is most elevated.