{"doi":"10.7554/elife.83538","title":"A novel single alpha-helix DNA-binding domain in CAF-1 promotes gene silencing and DNA damage survival through tetrasome-length DNA selectivity and spacer function","abstract":"The histone chaperone chromatin assembly factor 1 (CAF-1) deposits two nascent histone H3/H4 dimers onto newly replicated DNA forming the central core of the nucleosome known as the tetrasome. How CAF-1 ensures there is sufficient space for the assembly of tetrasomes remains unknown. Structural and biophysical characterization of the lysine/glutamic acid/arginine-rich (KER) region of CAF-1 revealed a 128-Å single alpha-helix (SAH) motif with unprecedented DNA-binding properties. Distinct KER sequence features and length of the SAH drive the selectivity of CAF-1 for tetrasome-length DNA and facilitate function in budding yeast. In vivo, the KER cooperates with the DNA-binding winged helix domain in CAF-1 to overcome DNA damage sensitivity and maintain silencing of gene expression. We propose that the KER SAH links functional domains within CAF-1 with structural precision, acting as a DNA-binding spacer element during chromatin assembly.","journal":"eLife","year":2023,"id":358593,"datarank":0.5358661286141032,"base_score":2.4849066497880004,"endowment":2.4849066497880004,"self_citation_contribution":0.37273599746820013,"citation_network_contribution":0.16313013114590305,"self_endowment_contribution":0.37273599746820013,"citer_contribution":0.16313013114590305,"corpus_percentile":null,"corpus_rank":null,"citation_count":11,"citer_count":11,"citers_with_citation_signal":6,"citers_with_endowment":6,"datacite_reuse_total":0,"is_dataset":false,"is_dataset_confidence":0.9569,"is_data_producer":false,"deposit_databanks":null,"is_oa":true,"file_count":0,"downloads":0,"has_version_chain":false,"published_date":"2023-01-01","fair_score":null,"fair_percentile":null,"algorithm_id":"datarank_citation_only_1hop_v6","ranking_scope":"data_only","authors":[{"id":993557,"name":"Rhiannon R. Aguilar","orcid":"0000-0001-5723-608X","position":1,"is_corresponding":false},{"id":993558,"name":"Nina Arslanovic","orcid":"0000-0001-5527-0874","position":2,"is_corresponding":false},{"id":1108985,"name":"Anna Seck","orcid":"0000-0002-7058-7332","position":3,"is_corresponding":false},{"id":505270,"name":"Duncan J. Smith","orcid":"0000-0002-0898-8629","position":4,"is_corresponding":false},{"id":675415,"name":"Jessica K. Tyler","orcid":"0000-0001-9765-1659","position":5,"is_corresponding":false},{"id":960532,"name":"Mair E. A. Churchill","orcid":"0000-0003-0862-235X","position":6,"is_corresponding":false},{"id":994046,"name":"Ruben Rosas","orcid":null,"position":0,"is_corresponding":true}],"reference_count":65,"raw_metadata":{"citation_network_status":"fetched"},"created_at":"2026-07-19T01:13:48.379546Z","pmid":"37432722","pmcid":null,"fwci":null,"citation_percentile":null,"influential_citations":0,"oa_status":null,"license":null,"views":0,"total_file_size_bytes":0,"version_count":0,"fair_f":null,"fair_a":null,"fair_i":null,"fair_r":null,"fair_zscore":null,"fair_rationale":null,"fair_model":null,"fair_agent_version":null,"fair_fulltext_source":null,"fair_has_llm":null,"fair_computed_at":null,"clinical_trials":[],"software_tools":[],"db_accessions":[],"linked_datasets":[],"topics":[]}