Isolation and characterization of histones

This chapter focuses on the isolation and characterization of histones. The association of the core particle with the fifth histone type, the histone H1, results in the nucleosome, the fundamental repeat unit of the elementary chromatin fiber. The testing of the competence for octamer and core particle formation and the identification of any modulation of core particle properties resulting from a hybrid octamer is the only critical test to establish the functional competence of a histone or isohistone subunit. In view of the absence of any other known function of the histones, beside their structural role, this methodology thus provides a very powerful tool to investigate structure-function relation of any individual histone subunit or its derivative. © 1989, Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved.