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Subtelomeric proteins negatively regulate telomere elongation in budding yeast
Author(s) -
Berthiau AnneSophie,
Yankulov Krassimir,
Bah Amadou,
Revardel Emmanuelle,
Luciano Pierre,
Wellinger Raymund J,
Géli Vincent,
Gilson Eric
Publication year - 2006
Publication title -
the embo journal
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
SCImago Journal Rank - 7.484
H-Index - 392
eISSN - 1460-2075
pISSN - 0261-4189
DOI - 10.1038/sj.emboj.7600975
Subject(s) - subtelomere , telomere , biology , telomerase , derepression , genetics , telomere binding protein , chromatin , microbiology and biotechnology , saccharomyces cerevisiae , chromosome , dna , yeast , gene , dna binding protein , psychological repression , gene expression , transcription factor
The Tbf1 and Reb1 proteins are present in yeast subtelomeric regions. We establish in this work that they inhibit telomerase‐dependent lengthening of telomere. For example, tethering the N‐terminal domain of Tbf1 and Reb1 in a subtelomeric region shortens that telomere proportionally to the number of domains bound. We further identified a 90 amino‐acid long sequence within the N‐terminal domain of Tbf1 that is necessary but not sufficient for its length regulation properties. The role of the subtelomeric factors in telomere length regulation is antagonized by TEL1 and does not correlate with a global telomere derepression. We show that the absence of TEL1 induces an alteration in the structure of telomeric chromatin, as defined biochemically by an increased susceptibility to nucleases and a greater heterogeneity of products. We propose that the absence of TEL1 modifies the organization of the telomeres, which allows Tbf1 and Reb1 to cis ‐inhibit telomerase. The involvement of subtelomeric factors in telomere length regulation provides a possible mechanism for the chromosome‐specific length setting observed at yeast and human telomeres.