Two histone H4 mRNA variants, and histogranin mRNAs, were detected in the rat genome and measured in various tissues and isolated alveolar macrophages. Medium to high levels of both mRNAs were present in the liver, adrenal glands, thymus, bone marrow and alveolar macrophag-es. cDNA contained an open reading frame that coded for unmodi-fied whole histone H4, whereas histogranin cDNA lacked the first ATG codon and contained an open reading frame that coded for modified (Thr89) H4-(84–102). .
