CAF-1 complex

GO:0033186 · Other · Multiprotein complex · Proposed

A conserved heterotrimeric protein complex that promotes histone H3 and H4 deposition onto newly synthesized DNA during replication or DNA repair; specifically facilitates replication-dependent nucleosome assembly with the major histone H3 (H3.1). In many species the CAF-1 subunits are designated p150, p60, and p48. [GO:0033186]

Synonyms: chromatin assembly factor 1 complex; chromatin assembly factor-I; CAF-I

UniProt location names: UniProt Consortium, CC BY 4.0. Reference label and route sources.

Components

Component	Type	Part of / acts on	Grounding	Genes	Essential	Role
Cac1 CAF-1 p90 subunit	Protein	part of	Reviewed label only (reviewed name; no accession asserted)	CAC1, RLF2	UNKNOWN	Largest p90 constituent of the budding-yeast CAF-1 complex. `GO:0033186` GO:0033186 comments that the yeast CAF-1 subunits are MSI1/p50, CAC2/p60 and CAC1/p90. `DOI:10.1101/gad.11.3.345` Kaufman et al. 1997 purified Saccharomyces cerevisiae CAF-I and identified CAC1, CAC2 and CAC3/MSI1 as the genes encoding the three yeast CAF-I subunits.
Cac2 CAF-1 p60 subunit	Protein	part of	Reviewed label only (reviewed name; no accession asserted)	CAC2	UNKNOWN	p60 constituent of the budding-yeast CAF-1 complex. `GO:0033186` GO:0033186 comments that the yeast CAF-1 subunits are MSI1/p50, CAC2/p60 and CAC1/p90. `DOI:10.1101/gad.11.3.345` Kaufman et al. 1997 purified Saccharomyces cerevisiae CAF-I and identified CAC1, CAC2 and CAC3/MSI1 as the genes encoding the three yeast CAF-I subunits.
Msi1/Cac3 CAF-1 p50 subunit	Protein	part of	Reviewed label only (reviewed name; no accession asserted)	MSI1, CAC3	UNKNOWN	p50 WD-repeat constituent of the budding-yeast CAF-1 complex. `GO:0033186` GO:0033186 comments that the yeast CAF-1 subunits are MSI1/p50, CAC2/p60 and CAC1/p90. `DOI:10.1101/gad.11.3.345` Kaufman et al. 1997 purified Saccharomyces cerevisiae CAF-I and identified CAC1, CAC2 and CAC3/MSI1 as the genes encoding the three yeast CAF-I subunits.

Taxonomic distribution

NCBITaxon:4932 Saccharomyces cerevisiae — COMMON: Budding yeast is the organism from which Kaufman et al. 1997 purified CAF-I and identified its CAC1, CAC2 and CAC3/MSI1 subunit genes. [DOI:10.1101/gad.11.3.345]

Canonical examples

NCBITaxon:4932 Saccharomyces cerevisiae — Kaufman et al. 1997 purified Saccharomyces cerevisiae CAF-I as a conserved heterotrimeric chromatin assembly factor. [DOI:10.1101/gad.11.3.345]

Functions

nucleosome assembly GO:0006334 — CAF-1 promotes deposition of histones H3 and H4 onto newly synthesized DNA during replication or DNA repair.
- GO:0033186 GO:0033186 defines CAF-1 as promoting histone H3 and H4 deposition onto newly synthesized DNA during replication or DNA repair.
- GO:0006334 GO:0006334 is the Gene Ontology biological-process term for nucleosome assembly.
- DOI:10.1101/gad.11.3.345 Kaufman et al. 1997 purified yeast CAF-I and used an in vitro assay for nucleosome assembly on replicated DNA.

Mechanism graphs

CAF-1 supports yeast replication-coupled nucleosome assembly (FUNCTION)

In Saccharomyces cerevisiae, Cac1, Cac2 and Msi1/Cac3 form the CAF-1 complex that supports deposition of histones H3 and H4 onto newly synthesized DNA.

Subject	Predicate	Object	Evidence
Cac1 CAF-1 p90 subunit	contributes to	CAF-1 complex	`GO:0033186` GO:0033186 comments that the yeast CAF-1 subunits are MSI1/p50, CAC2/p60 and CAC1/p90. `DOI:10.1101/gad.11.3.345` Kaufman et al. 1997 purified Saccharomyces cerevisiae CAF-I and identified CAC1, CAC2 and CAC3/MSI1 as the genes encoding the three yeast CAF-I subunits.
Cac2 CAF-1 p60 subunit	contributes to	CAF-1 complex	`GO:0033186` GO:0033186 comments that the yeast CAF-1 subunits are MSI1/p50, CAC2/p60 and CAC1/p90. `DOI:10.1101/gad.11.3.345` Kaufman et al. 1997 purified Saccharomyces cerevisiae CAF-I and identified CAC1, CAC2 and CAC3/MSI1 as the genes encoding the three yeast CAF-I subunits.
Msi1/Cac3 CAF-1 p50 subunit	contributes to	CAF-1 complex	`GO:0033186` GO:0033186 comments that the yeast CAF-1 subunits are MSI1/p50, CAC2/p60 and CAC1/p90. `DOI:10.1101/gad.11.3.345` Kaufman et al. 1997 purified Saccharomyces cerevisiae CAF-I and identified CAC1, CAC2 and CAC3/MSI1 as the genes encoding the three yeast CAF-I subunits.
CAF-1 complex	supports	nucleosome assembly	`GO:0033186` GO:0033186 defines CAF-1 as promoting histone H3 and H4 deposition onto newly synthesized DNA. `GO:0006334` GO:0006334 is the Gene Ontology biological-process term for nucleosome assembly.

Discussions

CURATION_TODO (OPEN): Resolve exact source-neutral family groundings for the CAF-1 p90, p60 and p50 constituent classes. The budding-yeast CAF-1 subunits correspond to broader eukaryotic p150, p60 and p48 subunit classes; exact InterPro, Pfam, NCBIfam or UniProt family CURIEs should only be curated after verifying that they denote the subunit class rather than a WD40 or acidic-domain motif.

Evidence

GO:0033186 Gene Ontology cellular-component term for the CAF-1 complex and its chromatin assembly factor 1 complex exact synonym.
GO:0032991 Gene Ontology cellular-component parent term for protein-containing complexes.
GO:0006334 Gene Ontology biological-process term for nucleosome assembly.
PMID:9030687 PubMed identifier for Kaufman et al. 1997, the budding-yeast CAF-I purification and subunit-identification paper.
DOI:10.1101/gad.11.3.345 DOI for Kaufman et al. 1997, 'Ultraviolet radiation sensitivity and reduction of telomeric silencing in Saccharomyces cerevisiae cells lacking chromatin assembly factor-I', verified through NCBI E-utilities.

Curation history

2026-09-27T07:39:14Z codex · CREATED_RECORD — Scaffolded by scripts/new_record.py
2026-09-27T07:40:23Z codex · EXPANDED_RECORD — Added CAF-1 exact synonymy, protein-containing-complex parentage, three budding-yeast CAF-I constituent rows, yeast scope, nucleosome assembly function, GO/PubMed/DOI evidence, a nonmechanistic function graph, and a CAF-1 subunit-grounding TODO.
2026-09-27T07:40:55Z codex · NORMALIZED_EVIDENCE_LISTS — Expanded repeated CAF-1 component evidence into independent YAML lists so the record does not emit anchors or aliases.

Source: data/structures/other/caf_1_complex.yaml