I have read it ample number of times that histones are one of the most conserved proteins on earth. Which is the simplest life form to have them?
I assume by "simple" you mean single celled eukaryotes or perhaps bacteria and viruses. I think virtually all eukaryotes have histones, from plants to fungi to vertebrates. Histones are certainly found in single celled yeasts where they have been studied extensively (e.g., http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/22555441). Even parasitic protists that have lost many genes, like Plasmodium species, possess histones.
Bacteria don't have histones but they do have other DNA binding proteins that may have some analogous functions. There has been some debate about histone-like proteins in Archaebacteria (e.g., http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/9783158)
I would be interested to know if there are any exceptional eukaryotes that lack histones, and how homologous DNA binding proteins in Archaebacteria are with Eukaryote histones
haithe smallest eukaryotic forms guillardia theta an akgae with smallest genome also hae h4 .hope it would help you
http://www.uniprot.org/uniprot/L1J0E2
Thanks James and Stalin for your responses!
I meant "simplest eukaryotes" which are known to have histones. As James suggested, even I guess that either yeasts or single-celled protists would be the candidate answers for this query. Just that I wasn't very certain! Atleast now I have your vote :D
And James, regarding your question, dinoflagellates are eukaryotic cells which lack histones. (https://books.google.co.in/books?id=8WLABHmo-K8C&pg=PA387&hl=en#v=onepage&q&f=false). I guess that's what you were asking!
Thanks again :)
Tapan Sharma,
May be, you could find the answer to your question in our with Elena Kadyshevich papers about the Life Origination Hydrate Theory. They are available in my and in Elena Kadyshevich pages at the ResearchGate site.
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