The presence of acetyl groups in histones

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Abstract
The very lysine-rich (F1) and part (F2a) of the slightly lysine-rich histones of calf thymus give a very small yield of N-terminal amino acids by the fluorodinitrobenzene method. This is apparently not due to masking of the N-terminal group by nucleotide or carbohydrate, nor to aggregation or incomplete reaction, and N-terminal sarcosyl and pyrrolidonecarboxylic acid residues are not present. Acetyl groups have been found in these fractions amounting to about 1 residue in 15000-18000 and 10000-14000 g. of protein in Fl and F2a respectively. The other slightly lysine-rich histones (F2b) and the arginine-rich group (F3) also contain some acetyl groups, amounting to 1 residue in 32000-38000 and 26000-28000 g. of protein respectively. The acetyl groups are probably N-acetyl, and it is suggested that they are the N-terminal substituents of at least four proteins in calf-thymus histones, namely fraction F2a and part of the groups Fl, F2b and F3.