title: Role of the histone amino termini in facilitated binding of a transcription factor, GAL4-AH, to nucleosome cores.
abstract: Facilitated, "cooperative" binding of GAL4-AH to nucleosomal DNA occurred in response to inhibition from the core histone amino termini. The binding of GAL4-AH (which contains the DNA-binding and dimerization domains of GAL4) to nucleosome cores containing multiple binding sites initiated at the end of a nucleosome core and proceeded in a cooperative manner until all sites were occupied. However, following tryptic removal of the core histone amino termini, GAL4-AH binding appeared to be noncooperative, similar to binding naked DNA. Binding of GAL4-AH to nucleosomes bearing a single GAL4 site at different positions indicated that inhibition of GAL4 binding was largely mediated by the histone amino termini and primarily occurred at sites well within the core and not near the end. When the histone amino termini were intact, binding of GAL4-AH to sites near the center of a nucleosome core was greatly enhanced by the presence of additional GAL4 dimers bound to more-accessible positions. These data illustrate that the binding of a factor to more-accessible sites, near the end of a nucleosome, allows facilitated binding of additional factors to the center of the nucleosome, thereby overcoming repression from the core histone amino termini. This mechanism may contribute to the binding of multiple factors to complex promoter and enhancer elements in cellular chromatin.
authors.affiliation: Department of Biochemistry and Molecular Biology, Pennsylvania State University, University Park 16802.
authors.forename: M
authors.initials: M
authors.lastname: Vettese-Dadey
authors.forename: P
authors.initials: P
authors.lastname: Walter
authors.forename: H
authors.initials: H
authors.lastname: Chen
authors.forename: L J
authors.initials: LJ
authors.lastname: Juan
authors.forename: J L
authors.initials: JL
authors.lastname: Workman
mesh_terms: D001483:Base Sequence; D001665:Binding Sites; D004247:DNA / Q000378:metabolism*; D017931:DNA Primers; D004268:DNA-Binding Proteins / Q000302:isolation & purification / Q000378:metabolism*; D005656:Fungal Proteins / Q000378:metabolism*; D006657:Histones / Q000378:metabolism*; D007700:Kinetics; D046911:Macromolecular Substances; D008969:Molecular Sequence Data; D009707:Nucleosomes / Q000378:metabolism*; D016133:Polymerase Chain Reaction; D011993:Recombinant Fusion Proteins / Q000378:metabolism; D015183:Restriction Mapping; D012441:Saccharomyces cerevisiae / Q000235:genetics / Q000378:metabolism*; D029701:Saccharomyces cerevisiae Proteins; D014157:Transcription Factors / Q000378:metabolism*
chemical_list: D017931:DNA Primers; D004268:DNA-Binding Proteins; D005656:Fungal Proteins; C052130:GAL4 protein, S cerevisiae; D006657:Histones; D046911:Macromolecular Substances; D009707:Nucleosomes; D011993:Recombinant Fusion Proteins; D029701:Saccharomyces cerevisiae Proteins; D014157:Transcription Factors; D004247:DNA