Question 1

(Essay)

What is unusual about the amino acid composition of histones? How is the function of histones related to the amino acid composition? Of which histones are nucleosomes
composed?

Answer

Histones contain large amounts of positively charged amino acids such as lysine and arginine. Thus, they can bind electrostatically to the negatively charged
phosphate groups of nucleotides. Nucleosomes are composed of all histones except H1.