Histone H5 can increase the internucleosome spacing in dinucleosomes to nativelike values.
Chicken erythrocyte chromatin was assembled with inner histones at about 60% of the ratio found in vivo and subsequently incubated with histone H5 (or H1 + H5) in a solution containing 0.1 M NaCl and poly(glutamic acid). Micrococcal nuclease digestion produced dinucleosomes of 360-390 base pair (bp) DNA content, similar to those from native chromatin and contrasting with the 270-280 bp species found in material incubated without H5. On sucrose gradients a dinucleosome sedimenting at 16 S containing 360 bp DNA was isolated. Removal of H1 + H5 after reconstitution did not change these results; H5 thus can induce rearrangements of nucleosome cores with respect to their neighbors. The results are interpreted as an H5-induced "sliding apart" of histone octamers, complementary to the "sliding together" found in native chromatin after removal of H1 + H5.
D000818:Animals; D002645:Chickens; D002843:Chromatin / Q000648:ultrastructure; D004247:DNA / Q000302:isolation & purification; D004912:Erythrocytes / Q000378:metabolism; D006657:Histones / Q000378:metabolism*; D008970:Molecular Weight; D009707:Nucleosomes / Q000302:isolation & purification / Q000378:metabolism / Q000648:ultrastructure*
D002843:Chromatin; D006657:Histones; D009707:Nucleosomes; D004247:DNA