Conformations and interactions of histone H2A (F2A2, ALK).

Conformational changes in histone H2A (ALK, F2A2, IIbl) as a function of ionic strength and pH have been followed using high resolution nuclear magnetic resonance (NMR), circular dichroism (CD), and infrared (ir). While change in pH from 3 to 7 (no added salt) causes little structural change, added salt induces the formation of both alpha helix (28 percent maximum) and intermolecular associates in the region of the molecule between 25 and 113. No beta structure was observed at high salt. By the use of different salts it was shown that the structural changes were due largely to nonspecific counterion screening by the added anion. Comparison of observed with simulated NMR spectra has led to the proposal that an ionic strength dependent equilibrium exists between largely unstructured coil molecules and fully structured and aggregated molecules. NMR spectra of H2A obtained in the presence of DNA showed that both the N- and C-terminal regions bind to DNA, i.e., not the portion of the chain that is involved in interhistone interactions.