Biotin-tag affinity purification of a centromeric nucleosome assembly complex.

Centromeres are chromosomal sites of microtubule binding that ensure correct mitotic segregation of chromosomes to daughter cells. This process is mediated by a special centromere-specific histone H3 variant (CenH3), which packages centromeric chromatin and epigenetically maintains the centromere at a distinct chromosomal location. However, CenH3 is present at low abundance relative to canonical histones, presenting a challenge for the isolation and characterization of the chaperone machinery that assembles CenH3 into nucleosomes at centromeres. To address this challenge, we used controlled overexpression of Drosophila CenH3 (CID) and an efficient biochemical purification strategy offered by in vivo biotinylation of CID to successfully purify and characterize the soluble CID nucleosome assembly complex. It consists of a single chaperone protein, RbAp48, complexed with CID and histone H4. RbAp48 is also found in protein complexes that assemble canonical histone H3 and replacement histone H3.3. Here, we highlight the benefits of our improved biotin-mediated purification method, and address the question of how the simple CID/H4-RbAp48 chaperone complex can mediate nucleosome assembly specifically at centromeres.