A winged helix protein from yeast Saccharomyces cerevisiae recognizes centromere sequences.

The winged helix-turn-helix motif was initially identified in the mammalian hepatocyte-enriched transcription factor HNF-3 and the Drosophila forkhead homeotic protein. Proteins containing the winged helix motif have been shown to play important roles in tissue-specific developmental regulation. In this report, by using a genomic binding site selection method, we demonstrate that the winged helix protein YFKH-1 from the yeast Saccharomyces cerevisiae recognizes conserved sequence in yeast centromeres. Thus, our data suggest that the winged helix proteins of the yeast may be involved in centromeric functions of the yeast.