s are basic nuclear proteins that are responsible for the nucleosomestructure of the chromosomal fiber in eukaryotes. This structure consists of approximately 146 bp of DNA wrapped around a nucleosome, an octamercomposed ofpairs of each of the four core histones. The chromatin fiber is further compacted through the interaction of a linker histone, H1, with the DNA between the nucleosomes to form higher order chromatin structures. This gene is intronless and encodes a replication-dependent histone that is a member of the histone H3 family. Transcripts from this gene lack polyAtails; instead, they contain a palindromic termination element. This gene is found in a histone cluster on human chromosome 1. This gene is one of four histone genes in the cluster that are duplicated; this record represents the centromericcopy. .