Histones and nucleosomes in Archaea and Eukarya: a comparative analysis.
Archaeal histones from mesophilic, thermophilic, and hyperthermophilic members of the Euryarchaeota have primary sequences, the histone fold, tertiary structures, and dimer formation in common with the eukaryal nucleosome core histones H2A, H2B, H3, and H4. Archaeal histones form nucleoprotein complexes in vitro and in vivo, designated archaeal nucleosomes, that contain histone tetramers and protect approximately 60 base pairs of DNA from nuclease digestion. Based on the sequence and structural homologies and experimental data reviewed here, archaeal nucleosomes appear similar, and may be homologous in evolutionary terms and function, to the structure at the center of the eukaryal nucleosome formed by the histone (H3 + H4)2 tetramer.
Department of Microbiology, Ohio State University, Columbus 43210, USA.
S L
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Pereira
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Reeve
D000595:Amino Acid Sequence; D000818:Animals; D001105:Archaea / Q000737:chemistry* / Q000235:genetics*; D019641:DNA, Archaeal / Q000737:chemistry; D019281:Dimerization; D005057:Eukaryotic Cells; D019143:Evolution, Molecular; D006657:Histones / Q000737:chemistry* / Q000235:genetics*; D008958:Models, Molecular; D008969:Molecular Sequence Data; D009707:Nucleosomes / Q000737:chemistry; D011487:Protein Conformation; D017510:Protein Folding; D017386:Sequence Homology, Amino Acid; D014158:Transcription, Genetic
D019641:DNA, Archaeal; D006657:Histones; D009707:Nucleosomes