GENETIC-VARIANTS OF CHICKEN ERYTHROCYTE HISTONE H5

Two allelic electromorphs a and b of chicken eryhrocyte histone H5 hav e been detected in a sodium dodecyl sulfate polyacrylamide gel. In an acid-urea gel, however, each of the allelic variants was found to be a ccompanied by a slower migrating form. A comparison of alpha-chymotryp sin-digested products of H5.a and H5.b revealed that they differed in N-terminal domains. The H5 variants were distributed differently not o nly in various chicken races but also in distinct lines within a breed . Allele H5(b) was about 2.6-4.6 as abundant as its counterpart H5(a) in most chicken populations examined. These proportions were distorted in two Leghorn lines: the ratio of H5(b) to H5(a) was only 1.6 in lin e H22 and increased up to 32 in line G99.