A cell-free system was used to characterize the binding reaction between the progesterone receptor and nuclear acceptor sites prepared from rat placenta. Two forms of receptor-acceptor complex were examined. One was extracted from nuclei by exposure to 0.6 M KCl; the other type was resistant to salt extraction. Kinetic analysis indicated that the binding reactions were saturable (3-4 pmol binding sites/mg DNA) and of high affinity (Kd = 3-6 nM). Acceptor binding was specific for placental nuclei and did not occur with nuclei prepared from spleen or with denatured nuclei from placenta. Acceptor sites were further characterized by their sensitivity to RNase, DNase I, and protease. RNase treatment had no influence on receptor-acceptor binding. However, DNase I reduced the number of KCl-resistant acceptor sites by 41%, but only a 19% reduction occurred in KCl-extractable acceptor sites (P less than 0.05). Protease removed 34% and 48% of the KCl-resistant and -extractable acceptor sites, respectively, and combined treatment with DNase and protease eliminated 76% of acceptor-binding activity. The endogenous inhibitor previously described from rat placental cytosol blocked acceptor-binding sites in a concentration-dependent manner, a decrease of 1.15 pmol sites/mg inhibitor protein for resistant sites and 0.76 pmol/mg inhibitor protein for extractable sites. However, receptor-acceptor binding was not altered by treating nuclei with actinomycin D or chloroquine. Mercurial reagents reduced receptor-acceptor interaction by 80% and 94% in KCl-resistant and -extractable sites, respectively, whereas sulfhydryl alkylating agents reduced binding 35% and 76%. Pyridoxal phosphate destroyed 88-93% of acceptor binding. The results of these studies suggest that the progesterone receptor acceptor sites are composed of a complex of chromatin protein and DNA in rat placenta. Furthermore, the binding reaction requires the participation of sulfhydryl and terminal amino groups.