Eukaryotic histones are basic and water soluble nuclear proteins that form hetero-octameric nucleosome particles by wrapping 146 base pairs of DNA in a left-handed super-helical turn sequentially to form chromosomal fiber. Two molecules of each of the four core histones (H2A, H2B, H3, and H4) form the octamer; formed of two H2A-H2B dimers and two H3-H4 dimers, forming two nearly symmetrical halves by tertiary structure. Over 80% of nucleosomes contain the linker Histone H1, derived from an intronless gene, that interacts with linker DNA between nucleosomes and mediates compaction into higher order chromatin.