Purification and characterization of proteins that bind to yeast ARSs

Two proteins that bind to yeast ARS DNA have been purified using conventional and oligonucleotide affinity chromatography. One protein has been purified to homogeneity and has a mass of 135 kDa. Competitive binding studies and DNase I footprinting show that the protein binds to a sequence about 80 base pairs away from the core consensus in the region known as domain B. This region has previously been shown to be required for efficient replication of plasmids carrying ARS1 elements. To investigate further whether the protein might have a function related to the ability of ARSs to act as replicators, binding to another ARS was tested. The protein binds to the functional ARS adjacent to the silent mating type locus HMR, called the HMR-E ARS, about 60 base pairs from the core consensus sequence. Surprisingly, there is little homology between the binding site at the HMR-E ARS and the binding site at ARS1. The 135-kDa protein is probably the same as ABF-I (SBF I) (Shore, D., Stillman, D. J. Brand, A. H., and Nasmyth, K. A. (1987) EMBO J. 6, 461-467; Buchman, A. R., Kimmerly, W. J., Rine, J., and Kornberg, R. D. (1988) Mol. Cell. Biol. 8, 210-225). A second DNA-binding protein was separated from ABF-I during later stages of the purification. This protein, which we designate ABF-III, also binds specifically to the ARS1 sequence, as shown by DNase I footprinting, at a site adjacent to the ABF-I recognition site. Purification of these two ARS binding proteins should aid in our understanding of the complex mechanisms that regulate eukaryotic DNA replication.