Histones are proteins rich in the basic amino acid residues lysine and arginine. What is the nature of the charge carried by the side chains of these amino acids, and what is the overall net charge of the histone octamer, respectively?

Step-by-step solution

A protein acquires charge depending upon the abundance of amino acids with charged side chains. Histones are rich in the basic amino acid residues lysine and arginine. Both of these amino acid residues carry positive charges in their side chains. Due to the abundance of these positively charged side chains, the entire histone octamer acquires an overall positive charge. This overall positive charge allows the histone octamer to tightly bind to the negatively charged DNA. Answer: Positive and Positive