This Article
Right arrow Full Text
Right arrow Full Text (PDF)
Right arrow Alert me when this article is cited
Right arrow Alert me if a correction is posted
Services
Right arrow Similar articles in this journal
Right arrow Similar articles in PubMed
Right arrow Alert me to new issues of the journal
Right arrow Download to citation manager
Right arrowReprints and Permissions
Right arrow Copyright Information
Right arrow Books from ASM Press
Right arrow MicrobeWorld
Citing Articles
Right arrow Citing Articles via HighWire
Right arrow Citing Articles via Google Scholar
Google Scholar
Right arrow Articles by Groff-Vindman, C.
Right arrow Articles by McEachern, M. J.
Right arrow Search for Related Content
PubMed
Right arrow PubMed Citation
Right arrow Articles by Groff-Vindman, C.
Right arrow Articles by McEachern, M. J.

 Previous Article  |  Next Article 

Molecular and Cellular Biology, June 2005, p. 4406-4412, Vol. 25, No. 11
0270-7306/05/$08.00+0     doi:10.1128/MCB.25.11.4406-4412.2005
Copyright © 2005, American Society for Microbiology. All Rights Reserved.

Recombination at Long Mutant Telomeres Produces Tiny Single- and Double-Stranded Telomeric Circles

Cindy Groff-Vindman,1 Anthony J. Cesare,2 Shobhana Natarajan,1,{dagger} Jack D. Griffith,2 and Michael J. McEachern1*

Department of Genetics, University of Georgia, Life Sciences Bldg., Rm. C320, Athens, Georgia 30602,1 Lineberger Comprehensive Cancer Center, Rm. 11-119, CB 7295, Mason Farm Rd., University of North Carolina, Chapel Hill, North Carolina 27599-72952

Received 6 January 2005/ Returned for modification 2 February 2005/ Accepted 7 March 2005

Recombinational telomere elongation (RTE) known as alternate lengthening of telomeres is the mechanism of telomere maintenance in up to 5 to 10% of human cancers. The telomeres of yeast mutants lacking telomerase can also be maintained by recombination. Previously, we proposed the roll-and-spread model to explain this elongation in the yeast Kluveromyces lactis. This model suggests that a very small (~100-bp) circular molecule of telomeric DNA is copied by a rolling circle event to generate a single long telomere. The sequence of this primary elongated telomere is then spread by recombination to all remaining telomeres. Here we show by two-dimensional gel analysis and electron microscopy that small circles of single- and double-stranded telomeric DNA are commonly made by recombination in a K. lactis mutant with long telomeres. These circles were found to be especially abundant between 100 and 400 bp (or nucleotides). Interestingly, the single-stranded circles consist of only the G-rich telomeric strand sequence. To our knowledge this is the first report of single-stranded telomeric circles as a product of telomere dysfunction. We propose that the small telomeric circles form through the resolution of an intratelomeric strand invasion which resembles a t-loop. Our data reported here demonstrate that K. lactis can, in at least some circumstances, make telomeric circles of the very small sizes predicted by the roll-and-spread model. The very small circles seen here are both predicted products of telomere rapid deletion, a process observed in both human and yeast cells, and predicted templates for roll-and-spread RTE.

* Corresponding author. Mailing address: University of Georgia at Athens, Department of Genetics, Room C318, Life Sciences Building, Athens, GA 30602. Phone: (706) 542-1427. Fax: (706) 542-3910. E-mail: mjm{at}uga.edu.

{dagger} Present address: University of Texas Southwestern Medical Center, Dallas, TX 75390.

Molecular and Cellular Biology, June 2005, p. 4406-4412, Vol. 25, No. 11
0022-538X/05/$08.00+0     doi:10.1128/MCB.25.11.4406-4412.2005
Copyright © 2005, American Society for Microbiology. All Rights Reserved.



This article has been cited by other articles:

  • Basenko, E. Y., Cesare, A. J., Iyer, S., Griffith, J. D., McEachern, M. J. (2009). Telomeric circles are abundant in the stn1-M1 mutant that maintains its telomeres through recombination. Nucleic Acids Res 0: gkp814v1-gkp814 [Abstract] [Full Text]  
  • Nabetani, A., Ishikawa, F. (2009). Unusual Telomeric DNAs in Human Telomerase-Negative Immortalized Cells. Mol. Cell. Biol. 29: 703-713 [Abstract] [Full Text]  
  • Bechard, L. H., Butuner, B. D., Peterson, G. J., McRae, W., Topcu, Z., McEachern, M. J. (2009). Mutant Telomeric Repeats in Yeast Can Disrupt the Negative Regulation of Recombination-Mediated Telomere Maintenance and Create an Alternative Lengthening of Telomeres-Like Phenotype. Mol. Cell. Biol. 29: 626-639 [Abstract] [Full Text]  
  • Longhese, M. P. (2008). DNA damage response at functional and dysfunctional telomeres. Genes Dev. 22: 125-140 [Abstract] [Full Text]  
  • Cesare, A. J., Groff-Vindman, C., Compton, S. A., McEachern, M. J., Griffith, J. D. (2008). Telomere Loops and Homologous Recombination-Dependent Telomeric Circles in a Kluyveromyces lactis Telomere Mutant Strain. Mol. Cell. Biol. 28: 20-29 [Abstract] [Full Text]  
  • Pike, B. L., Heierhorst, J. (2007). Mdt1 Facilitates Efficient Repair of Blocked DNA Double-Strand Breaks and Recombinational Maintenance of Telomeres. Mol. Cell. Biol. 27: 6532-6545 [Abstract] [Full Text]  
  • Yu, E. Y., Steinberg-Neifach, O., Dandjinou, A. T., Kang, F., Morrison, A. J., Shen, X., Lue, N. F. (2007). Regulation of Telomere Structure and Functions by Subunits of the INO80 Chromatin Remodeling Complex. Mol. Cell. Biol. 27: 5639-5649 [Abstract] [Full Text]  
  • Dreesen, O., Cross, G. A. M. (2006). Telomerase-Independent Stabilization of Short Telomeres in Trypanosoma brucei.. Mol. Cell. Biol. 26: 4911-4919 [Abstract] [Full Text]  


Copyright © 2009 by the American Society for Microbiology.   For an alternate route to Journals.ASM.org, visit: http://intl-journals.asm.org | More Info»