title: Interactions of the CCAAT-binding trimer NF-Y with nucleosomes.
abstract: NF-Y is a sequence-specific evolutionary conserved activator binding to CCAAT boxes with high affinity and specificity. It is a trimer formed by NF-YA and two putative histone-like subunits, NF-YB and NF-YC, showing similarity to histones H2B and H2A, respectively. We investigated the relationships between NF-Y and chromatin using an Artemia franciscana chromatin assembly system with plasmids containing the Major HistoCompatibility complex class II Ea promoter. The NF-Y trimer, but not single subunits, protects the Y box in the presence of reconstituted chromatin, and it can bind the target sequence during and after assembly. Using reconstitution assays with purified chicken histones, we show that NF-Y associates with preformed nucleosomes. Translational analysis of various Ea fragments of identical length in which the CCAAT box is at different positions indicated that the lateral fragment was slightly more prone to NF-Y binding. In competition experiments, NF-Y is able to prevent formation of nucleosomes significantly. These data support the idea that NF-Y is a gene-specific activator with a built-in capacity to interface with chromatin structures.
authors.affiliation: Dipartimento di Genetica e Biologia dei Microrganismi, Università di Milano, Via Celoria 26, 20133 Milano, Italy.
authors.forename: M C
authors.initials: MC
authors.lastname: Motta
authors.forename: G
authors.initials: G
authors.lastname: Caretti
authors.forename: G F
authors.initials: GF
authors.lastname: Badaracco
authors.forename: R
authors.initials: R
authors.lastname: Mantovani
mesh_terms: D000818:Animals; D001156:Artemia; D022762:CCAAT-Enhancer-Binding Proteins; D002843:Chromatin / Q000378:metabolism; D004247:DNA / Q000378:metabolism; D018983:DNA Footprinting; D004268:DNA-Binding Proteins / Q000378:metabolism*; D006657:Histones / Q000378:metabolism; D008297:Male; D009707:Nucleosomes / Q000235:genetics / Q000378:metabolism*; D009841:Oligonucleotides / Q000378:metabolism; D010957:Plasmids; D011401:Promoter Regions, Genetic; D011487:Protein Conformation; D017510:Protein Folding; D012474:Salmon; D013094:Spermatozoa / Q000737:chemistry; D014157:Transcription Factors / Q000378:metabolism*
chemical_list: D022762:CCAAT-Enhancer-Binding Proteins; D002843:Chromatin; D004268:DNA-Binding Proteins; D006657:Histones; D009707:Nucleosomes; D009841:Oligonucleotides; D014157:Transcription Factors; D004247:DNA