Species specificity and individual variability of sea urchin sperm H2B histones

Total histones from the sperms and embryos of the sea urchins Paracentrotus lividus, Arbacia lixula, Psammechinus microtuberculatus and Sphaerechinus granularis have been fractionated into the component molecules by electrophoretic analyses in SDS, in urea-acetic acid and in Triton-urea-acetic acid. Sperm H2B histones are in all cases different from those of the corresponding embryonic chromatins. Each sea urchin species has distinctive variants of the sperm H2B histones that are fractionated by electrophoresis in SDS acrylamide gel into two to four components forming a new class of lower mobility. This analytical method shows that individuals of the same species have different assortments of the H2B components. Electrophoretic analyses in Triton-urea also show multiple components for H2B but the patterns are similar in the different individuals.