[Local homology of amino acid sequences of histones H3, H4 and the protein repressor lambda Cro. Possible conformation of homologous histone sites in DNP].

A mathematical analysis of amino acid sequences was carried out with a view of detecting possible homology between histones H3 and H4 and repressor-activator proteins of prokaryotes according to the A. I. criterion which reflects the similarity of their primary structure. It was found that the sites of eukaryotic histones H3 (102-123) and H4 (68-85) and site alpha 3 (24-25) of the prokaryotic repressor protein lambda Cro, i. e., the site of protein interaction with DNA, reveal a statistically significant homology. The A. I. value for the H3 site of lambda Cro is 3.37, that for the H4 site of calf thymus and sea horse is 3.28. The amino acid sequences of these proteins in the alpha 2-alpha 3 site, i. e., the site in which the homology between amino acid sequences of histones and DNA-binding proteins had been established previously, with regard to similarity of their secondary structure of the helix-turn-helix type, were analyzed. A pairwise comparison of H3 and protein lambda Cro showed that the A. I. value for histones H3 from various sources is approximately 2.7; however, the homology of the alpha 2 site is lower than that of site alpha 3. It is concluded that there exists an evolutionary relationship between homologous segments of histones H3 and H4 and protein lambda Cro, which can be preserved in order to maintain a definite secondary structure, presumably for binding to DNA.