• Korean Journal of Microbiology
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• v.28 no.2
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• pp.128-133
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• 1990

The chromatin of all higher eukaryotic cells contains a group of very basic low-mole-cular weight proteins, the histones. But much less is known about histones in lower eukaryotes. Our purpose was to study the histones of the genus Rhizopus. After isolation and purification of nucleoprotein the basic nucleoproteins were analyzed by gel electrophoresis, in sodium dodecyl sulfate as well as acid/urea gels and compared with calf thymus histones. Their electrophoretic mobility in polyacrylamide gel indicate that they are histone homologous, although not identical, to the H2A, H2B, H3 and H4 histones of mammals with the exception of H1. The result suggests that Rhizopus thus appears to contain histone proteins which are homologous to the histones from in higher eukaryotes. The similarity between the calf thymus histone H1 and the Rhizopus high band group remains to be discussed.