Detection of two chromatin proteins which bind specifically to the 5'-flanking region of the rat prolactin gene.

We employed a protein gel blotting procedure to search for nuclear proteins from rat pituitary cells that bind preferentially to the 5'-flanking region of the rat prolactin gene. By gel blots of chromatin proteins from GH3 rat pituitary tumor cells with a 32P-labeled prolactin genomic clone, we detected two major binding proteins with molecular weights of approximately 44,000 and 48,000, designated NP44 and NP48, respectively. Both NP44 and NP48 are minor chromatin proteins which are extracted at low salt concentrations (0.4 M NaCl) and exhibit a range of slightly acidic isoelectric variants. NP44 and NP48 were detected at similar levels in chromatin extracts of GH3 cells, the prolactin-negative GC cell variant of the GH3 cells, and normal rat pituitary tissue. Considerably lower levels of these two proteins were found in chromatin extracts from rat liver and rat C6 glial cells. NP44 and NP48 exhibit DNA sequence specificity, as evidenced by their strong binding to the upstream flanking region of the prolactin gene, but only very weak binding to plasmid DNA, rat prolactin or growth hormone cDNAs, or upstream flanking regions of two other rat genes. By analyzing subclones of a rat prolactin genomic clone, we established that NP44 and NP48 bind to at least two sites, which are located between 0.4 and 2.0 kilobases (region I) and between 2.0 and 4.8 kilobases (region II) upstream of the transcription initiation site. These findings are discussed in the context of a possible functional association between the strong binding of NP44 and NP48 to the prolactin 5'-flanking region and pituitary-specific expression of the prolactin gene.