Question

Histones are essentially identical in sequence/structure in all eukaryotic organisms from yeast to plants to animals. What does this say about the biophysical properties of DNA-packaging and the evolution of eukaryotic organisms

Answer 1

Answer:

It indicates that core histone genes were present in the last common ancestor of yeasts, plants, and animals

Explanation:

Histones are highly basic proteins that can strongly interact with DNA, which is packaged into nucleosomes, the basic structural and functional unit of chromatin. Each nucleosome is composed of approximately 147 base pairs of DNA wrapped around a core of eight histone proteins (two copies of four types of histones H3, H4, H2A, H2B). These core histones are evolutionarily conserved across eukaryotic kingdoms in terms of sequence and structure. Therefore, DNA-packaging into nucleosomes is considered a constraint for the evolution of core histones. Moreover, the presence of conserved core histones in eukaryotic kingdoms (e.g., yeast, plant, and animal kingdoms) is strong evidence that histone-mediated DNA packaging was presumably present in the last common ancestor of eukaryotic genomes.