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 Ray, A.
Right arrow Articles by Runge, K. W.
Right arrow Search for Related Content
PubMed
Right arrow PubMed Citation
Right arrow Articles by Ray, A.
Right arrow Articles by Runge, K. W.

 Previous Article  |  Next Article 

Molecular and Cellular Biology, January 1999, p. 31-45, Vol. 19, No. 1
0270-7306/99/$04.00+0
Copyright © 1999, American Society for Microbiology. All rights reserved.

The Yeast Telomere Length Counting Machinery Is Sensitive to Sequences at the Telomere-Nontelomere Junction

Alo Ray and Kurt W. Runge*

Department of Molecular Biology, The Lerner Research Institute, Cleveland Clinic Foundation, Cleveland, Ohio 44195

Received 24 March 1998/Returned for modification 3 September 1998/Accepted 24 September 1998

Saccharomyces cerevisiae telomeres consist of a continuous 325 ± 75-bp tract of the heterogeneous repeat TG1-3 which contains irregularly spaced, high-affinity sites for the protein Rap1p. Yeast cells monitor or count the number of telomeric Rap1p molecules in a negative feedback mechanism which modulates telomere length. To investigate the mechanism by which Rap1p molecules are counted, the continuous telomeric TG1-3 sequences were divided into internal TG1-3 sequences and a terminal tract separated by nontelomeric spacers of different lengths. While all of the internal sequences were counted as part of the terminal tract across a 38-bp spacer, a 138-bp disruption completely prevented the internal TG1-3 sequences from being considered part of the telomere and defined the terminal tract as a discrete entity separate from the subtelomeric sequences. We also used regularly spaced arrays of six Rap1p sites internal to the terminal TG1-3 repeats to show that each Rap1p molecule was counted as about 19 bp of TG1-3 in vivo and that cells could count Rap1p molecules with different spacings between tandem sites. As previous in vitro experiments had shown that telomeric Rap1p sites occur about once every 18 bp, all Rap1p molecules at the junction of telomeric and nontelomeric chromatin (the telomere-nontelomere junction) must participate in telomere length measurement. The conserved arrangement of these six Rap1p molecules at the telomere-nontelomere junction in independent transformants also caused the elongated TG1-3 tracts to be maintained at nearly identical lengths, showing that sequences at the telomere-nontelomere junction had an effect on length regulation. These results can be explained by a model in which telomeres beyond a threshold length form a folded structure that links the chromosome terminus to the telomere-nontelomere junction and prevents telomere elongation.

* Corresponding author. Mailing address: The Lerner Research Institute, Cleveland Clinic Foundation, Department of Molecular Biology, NC20, 9500 Euclid Ave., Cleveland, OH 44195. Phone: (216) 445-9771. Fax: (216) 444-0512. E-mail: rungek{at}cesmtp.ccf.org.

Molecular and Cellular Biology, January 1999, p. 31-45, Vol. 19, No. 1
0270-7306/99/$04.00+0
Copyright © 1999, American Society for Microbiology. All rights reserved.


This article has been cited by other articles:

  • Friedland, A. E., Lu, T. K., Wang, X., Shi, D., Church, G., Collins, J. J. (2009). Synthetic Gene Networks That Count. Science 324: 1199-1202 [Abstract] [Full Text]  
  • Negrini, S., Ribaud, V., Bianchi, A., Shore, D. (2007). DNA breaks are masked by multiple Rap1 binding in yeast: implications for telomere capping and telomerase regulation. Genes Dev. 21: 292-302 [Abstract] [Full Text]  
  • Toussaint, M., Dionne, I., Wellinger, R. J. (2005). Limited TTP supply affects telomere length regulation in a telomerase-independent fashion. Nucleic Acids Res 33: 704-713 [Abstract] [Full Text]  
  • Kelleher, C., Kurth, I., Lingner, J. (2005). Human Protection of Telomeres 1 (POT1) Is a Negative Regulator of Telomerase Activity In Vitro. Mol. Cell. Biol. 25: 808-818 [Abstract] [Full Text]  
  • Levy, D. L., Blackburn, E. H. (2004). Counting of Rif1p and Rif2p on Saccharomyces cerevisiae Telomeres Regulates Telomere Length. Mol. Cell. Biol. 24: 10857-10867 [Abstract] [Full Text]  
  • Grossi, S., Puglisi, A., Dmitriev, P. V., Lopes, M., Shore, D. (2004). Pol12, the B subunit of DNA polymerase {alpha}, functions in both telomere capping and length regulation. Genes Dev. 18: 992-1006 [Abstract] [Full Text]  
  • Ancelin, K., Brunori, M., Bauwens, S., Koering, C.-E., Brun, C., Ricoul, M., Pommier, J.-P., Sabatier, L., Gilson, E. (2002). Targeting Assay To Study the cis Functions of Human Telomeric Proteins: Evidence for Inhibition of Telomerase by TRF1 and for Activation of Telomere Degradation by TRF2. Mol. Cell. Biol. 22: 3474-3487 [Abstract] [Full Text]  
  • Liu, Y., Kha, H., Ungrin, M., Robinson, M. O., Harrington, L. (2002). Preferential maintenance of critically short telomeres in mammalian cells heterozygous for mTert. Proc. Natl. Acad. Sci. USA 99: 3597-3602 [Abstract] [Full Text]  
  • Grossi, S., Bianchi, A., Damay, P., Shore, D. (2001). Telomere Formation by Rap1p Binding Site Arrays Reveals End-Specific Length Regulation Requirements and Active Telomeric Recombination. Mol. Cell. Biol. 21: 8117-8128 [Abstract] [Full Text]  
  • Bucholc, M., Park, Y., Lustig, A. J. (2001). Intrachromatid Excision of Telomeric DNA as a Mechanism for Telomere Size Control in Saccharomyces cerevisiae. Mol. Cell. Biol. 21: 6559-6573 [Abstract] [Full Text]  
  • Meier, B., Driller, L., Jaklin, S., Feldmann, H. M. (2001). New Function of CDC13 in Positive Telomere Length Regulation. Mol. Cell. Biol. 21: 4233-4245 [Abstract] [Full Text]  
  • Ray, A., Runge, K. W. (2001). Yeast telomerase appears to frequently copy the entire template in vivo. Nucleic Acids Res 29: 2382-2394 [Abstract] [Full Text]  
  • Forstemann, K., Hoss, M., Lingner, J. (2000). Telomerase-dependent repeat divergence at the 3' ends of yeast telomeres. Nucleic Acids Res 28: 2690-2694 [Abstract] [Full Text]  
  • Wahlin, J., Cohn, M. (2000). Saccharomyces cerevisiae RAP1 binds to telomeric sequences with spatial flexibility. Nucleic Acids Res 28: 2292-2301 [Abstract] [Full Text]  
  • Ouellette, M. M., Liao, M., Herbert, B.-S., Johnson, M., Holt, S. E., Liss, H. S., Shay, J. W., Wright, W. E. (2000). Subsenescent Telomere Lengths in Fibroblasts Immortalized by Limiting Amounts of Telomerase. J. Biol. Chem. 275: 10072-10076 [Abstract] [Full Text]  
  • Martin, A. A., Dionne, I., Wellinger, R. J., Holm, C. (2000). The Function of DNA Polymerase alpha at Telomeric G Tails Is Important for Telomere Homeostasis. Mol. Cell. Biol. 20: 786-796 [Abstract] [Full Text]  
  • Evans, S., Lundblad, V (2000). Positive and negative regulation of telomerase access to the telomere. J. Cell Sci. 113: 3357-3364 [Abstract]  
  • Ray, A., Runge, K. W. (1999). Varying the number of telomere-bound proteins does not alter telomere length in tel1Delta cells. Proc. Natl. Acad. Sci. USA 96: 15044-15049 [Abstract] [Full Text]  
  • Craven, R. J., Petes, T. D. (1999). Dependence of the Regulation of Telomere Length on the Type of Subtelomeric Repeat in the Yeast Saccharomyces cerevisiae. Genetics 152: 1531-1541 [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»