This is a proposal to characterize a protein, histone from nuclear chromatin of the alfalfa plant. Because the structure and function of chromatin is highly dependant on the intracellular environment, plant chromatin may be significantly affected by salts in plants grown under saline conditions. Alfalfa contains multiple histone variants and high levels of histone acetylation, depending on growth conditions. Cellular, biochemical and molecular techniques will be used to characterize the histones. These studies, which have been few in plants, will significantly increase our knowledge of plant histone variants and postsynthetic modifications. A good characterization of histones should contribute to our understanding of the proteins' role in providing dynamic balance for a stable packaging of DNA, for interaction sites with regulatory components and for the localized and selective unpacking of gene sequences for transcription.
