Oxygen effect in the radiolysis of proteins: V. Histones

Histones of calf thymus were irradiated with X-rays in different phosphate solutions under nitrogen and air. Degradation of the monomer core histones, formation of aggregates and of fragments were determined by electrophoresis and HPL-gelchromatography. Under nitrogen loss of monomer histones are caused by aggregation, under air by fragmentation. No influence of the different ionic conditions was observed. The G-value for degradation is smaller under air than under nitrogen. These results for histones are compared with the oxygen effect of other proteins