Involvement of Telomerase Reverse Transcriptase in Heterochromatin Maintenance

In the fission yeastSchizosaccharomyces pombe , centromeric heterochromatin is maintained by an RNA-directed RNA polymerase complex (RDRC) and the RNA-induced transcriptional silencing (RITS) complex in a manner that depends on the generation of short interfering RNA. In association with the telomerase RNA component (TERC), the telomerase reverse transcriptase (TERT) forms telomerase and counteracts telomere attrition, and without TERC, TERT has been implicated in the regulation of heterochromatin at locations distinct from telomeres. Here, we describe a complex composed of human TERT (hTERT), Brahma-related gene 1 (BRG1), and nucleostemin (NS) that contributes to heterochromatin maintenance at centromeres and transposons. This complex produced double-stranded RNAs homologous to centromeric alpha-satellite (alphoid ) repeat elements and transposons that were processed into small interfering RNAs targeted to these heterochromatic regions. These small interfering RNAs promoted heterochromatin assembly and mitotic progression in a manner dependent on the RNA interference machinery. These observations implicate the hTERT/BRG1/NS (TBN) complex in heterochromatin assembly at particular sites in the mammalian genome.