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Molecular and Cellular Biology, January 2004, p. 912-923, Vol. 24, No. 2
0270-7306/04/$08.00+0     DOI: 10.1128/MCB.24.2.912-923.2004
Copyright © 2004, American Society for Microbiology. All Rights Reserved.

Template Requirements for Telomerase Translocation in Kluyveromyces lactis

Dana H. Underwood, Robert P. Zinzen, and Michael J. McEachern^*

Department of Genetics, University of Georgia, Athens, Georgia 30602

Received 9 January 2003/ Returned for modification 3 March 2003/ Accepted 2 October 2003

Telomeres are synthesized by telomerase, a specialized reverse transcriptase, which contains a template in its intrinsic RNA component. In Kluyveromyces lactis, the repeats synthesized by the wild-type telomerase are 25 nucleotides (nt) in length and uniform in sequence. To determine the role of the 5-nt repeats defining the ends of the K. lactis telomerase RNA template in telomerase translocation, we have made mutations in and around them and observed their effects on telomere length and the sequence of newly made telomeric repeats. These template mutations typically result in telomeres that are shorter than those of wild-type cells. The mismatches between the telomerase template and the telomeric tip that occur after telomerase-mediated incorporation of the mutations are normally not removed. Instead, the mutations lead to the synthesis of aberrant repeats that range in size from 31 to 13 bp. Therefore, the specificity with which the telomeric tip aligns with the telomere is critical for the production of the uniform repeats seen in K. lactis. In addition, the region immediately 3' of the template may play an important role in translocation of the enzyme.

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* Corresponding author. Mailing address: Department of Genetics, University of Georgia, Athens, GA 30602. Phone: (706) 542-4134. Fax: (706) 542-3910. E-mail: mjm{at}arches.uga.edu.

Present address: Department of Molecular Genetics and Microbiology, Cancer Research Facility, CRF 123, University of New Mexico Health Sciences Center, Albuquerque, NM 87131.

Present address: Department of Molecular and Cell Biology, Division of Genetics and Development, University of California, Berkeley, CA 94710.

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Molecular and Cellular Biology, January 2004, p. 912-923, Vol. 24, No. 2
0022-538X/04/$08.00+0     DOI: 10.1128/MCB.24.2.912-923.2004
Copyright © 2004, American Society for Microbiology. All Rights Reserved.

This article has been cited by other articles:

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