Stable DNA-protein complexes in eukaryotic chromatin

Demembranized sperm and somatic nuclei of mammalian origin were extracted with high salt/urea/2-mercaptoethanol, treated with detergents and purified in CsCl density gradients to isolate DNA. Under these conditions a protein component still remained bound to DNA. This stable DNA-protein complex could be reduced to an oligodeoxynucleotide-peptide complex by extensive sequential digestions with DNase I and Pronase E. Chemical and enzymatic treatments of this complex indicated the presence of a phosphoester bond between DNA and a hydroxyamino acid. Two-dimensional tryptic peptide mapping revealed a remarkable similarity among the covalently linked protein components in all types of chromatin studied. These maps differed from the maps of mammalian topoisomerases I and II.