Histone H1

Histone H1 is one of the five main histone protein families which are components of chromatin in eukaryotic cells. Though highly conserved, it is nevertheless the most variable histone in sequence across species.

Structure

Metazoan H1 proteins feature a central globular domain and long C- and short N-terminal tails. H1 is involved with the packing of the "beads on a string" sub-structures into a high order structure, whose details have not yet been solved.

Function

Unlike the other histones, H1 does not make up the nucleosome "bead". Instead, it sits on top of the structure, keeping in place the DNA that has wrapped around the nucleosome. H1 is present in half the amount of the other four histones, which contribute two molecules to each nucleosome bead. In addition to binding to the nucleosome, the H1 protein binds to the "linker DNA" (approximately 20-80 nucleotides in length) region between nucleosomes, helping stabilize the zig-zagged 30 nm chromatin fiber. Much has been learned about histone H1 from studies on purified chromatin fibers. Ionic extraction of linker histones from native or reconstituted chromatin promotes its unfolding under hypotonic conditions from fibers of 30 nm width to beads-on-a-string nucleosome arrays.