Blocking by histones of accessibility to DNA in chromatin.

The effect of histones on accessibility of DNA to DNase in chromatin of thymus nuclei has been studied by selective extraction of either lysine-rich or arginine-rich histones. It was found that all histones block accessibility but that, weight for weight, lysine-rich histones block much more effectively than do arginine-rich histones. We point to the contrast between accessibility of DNA to DNase and of DNA to RNA polymerase, and to what may be the similarity between accessibility to DNase and DNA polymerase.