A subset of trout testis nucleosomes enriched in transcribed DNA sequences contains high mobility group proteins as major structural components

Abstract

Mononucleosomes greatly enriched in non-histone proteins were prepared by limited digestion of testis nuclei with micrococcal nuclease. Five to fifteen per cent of the chromatin was solubilized and could be separated by adjustment to 0.1 M NaCl, into a soluble fraction MN1, consisting of mononucleosomes containing the four inner histones and the small basic non-histone, H6, associated with a 140-base-pair DNA fragment. H1 was notably absent in MN1. The fraction insoluble in 0.1 M NaCl (MN2) comprised a mixture of mono-, di-, tri-, and oligosomes. MN2 monosome fraction contained the four inner histones plus H1 and lacked H6 and the length of its DNA was 170 base-pairs. Previous work had shown that limited micrococcal nuclease digestion of trout testis nuclei released a great proportion of the non-histone protein, high mobility group protein T (HMG-T). It seems likely that HMG-T is the major non-histone protein located in the linker regions of a subset of nucleosomes containing the non-histone protein H6 as a major structural component. Moreover, the presence of HMG-T renders this subset of nucleosomes very sensitive to micrococcal nuclease. Hybridization experiments were performed to demonstrate that the DNA from MN1 monosomes corresponds to a subset of the trout testis genome. This DNA subset is greatly enriched in sequences that are present in cytoplasmic RNA. Chromatin subunits enriched in their content of H6 and HMG-T could also be obtained by limited digestion of trout testis chromatin with DNase II followed by precipitation with MgCl2.