Open AccessSilent chromatin determines target preference of the Saccharomyces retrotransposon Ty5
Author(s) -
Sige Zou,
Daniel F. Voytas
Publication year - 1997
Publication title -
proceedings of the national academy of sciences of the united states of america
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
SCImago Journal Rank - 5.011
H-Index - 771
eISSN - 1091-6490
pISSN - 0027-8424
DOI - 10.1073/pnas.94.14.7412
Subject(s) - retrotransposon , chromatin , biology , saccharomyces cerevisiae , genetics , transposable element , nucleosome , heterochromatin , dna , computational biology , genome , gene
TheHML andHMR mating loci ofSaccharomyces cerevisiae are bound in silent chromatin, which is assembled at the flanking E and I transcriptional silencers. The retrotransposon Ty5 preferentially integrates into regions of silent chromatin, and Ty5 insertions near theHMR-E silencer account for ≈2% of total transposition events. Most Ty5 insertions occur within 800 bp on either side of the autonomously replicating consensus sequence withinHMR-E . Ty5 target preference is determined by silent chromatin, because integration nearHMR-E is abolished in strains with silencer mutations that alleviate transcriptional repression. The recognition of specific DNA sequencesper se does not direct integration, rather, it is the protein complex assembled at the silencers. As demonstrated here for Ty5, recognition of specific chromatin domains may be a general mechanism by which retrotransposons and retroviruses determine integration sites.