E. Ray et al., LINKER HISTONES INHIBIT T4 AND ESCHERICHIA-COLI DNA LIGASES, Biochemical and biophysical research communications, 222(2), 1996, pp. 512-518
Based on some preliminary observations that linker histones strongly i
nhibit the activity of prokaryotic DNA ligases, we studied the effect
of these histones on the ligation of short restriction DNA fragments b
y either T4 or E. coli DNA ligases. The inhibitory effect was strong,
but it appeared only after two molecules of H1 bound to a similar to 2
00 bp-long DNA fragment. A similar pattern of inhibition (but at much
higher concentration) was observed with the isolated globular domain o
f histone H5. That the inhibition was specific to the linker histones
became clear when other basic proteins, such as the core histone octam
er or cytochrome C, were tested. They did not inhibit the ligases but
rather significantly stimulated them. The other major linker DNA-bindi
ng protein in chromatin, the non-histone protein HMG1, showed no signi
ficant effect on the ligase activity. (C) 1996 Academic Press, Inc.