title: Evidence for silencing compartments within the yeast nucleus: a role for telomere proximity and Sir protein concentration in silencer-mediated repression.
abstract: Transcriptional repression at the silent mating-type loci in yeast requires the targeting of silent information regulator (Sir) proteins through specific interactions formed at cis-acting silencer elements. We show here that a reporter gene flanked by two functional silencers is not repressed when integrated at >200 kb from a telomere. Repression is restored by creation of a new telomere 13 kb from the integrated reporter or by elevated expression of SIR1, SIR3, and/or SIR4. Coupled expression represses in an additive manner, suggesting that all three factors are in limiting concentrations. When overexpressed, Sir3 and Sir4 are dispersed throughout the nucleoplasm, in contrast to wild-type cells where they are clustered in a limited number of foci together with telomeres. Efficient silencer function thus seems to require either proximity to a pool of concentrated Sir proteins, that is, proximity to telomeres, or delocalization of the silencing factors.
authors.affiliation: Laboratoire de Biologie Moléculaire et Cellulaire de l'Ecole Normale Supérieure de Lyon, France.
authors.forename: L
authors.initials: L
authors.lastname: Maillet
authors.forename: C
authors.initials: C
authors.lastname: Boscheron
authors.forename: M
authors.initials: M
authors.lastname: Gotta
authors.forename: S
authors.initials: S
authors.lastname: Marcand
authors.forename: E
authors.initials: E
authors.lastname: Gilson
authors.forename: S M
authors.initials: SM
authors.lastname: Gasser
mesh_terms: D001483:Base Sequence; D002467:Cell Nucleus / Q000378:metabolism*; D015825:Chromosomes, Fungal / Q000235:genetics / Q000378:metabolism; D017931:DNA Primers / Q000235:genetics; D005656:Fungal Proteins / Q000235:genetics / Q000378:metabolism*; D005800:Genes, Fungal; D049770:Genes, Mating Type, Fungal; D005809:Genes, Regulator; D008969:Molecular Sequence Data; D012441:Saccharomyces cerevisiae / Q000235:genetics* / Q000378:metabolism*; D038281:Silent Information Regulator Proteins, Saccharomyces cerevisiae; D016615:Telomere / Q000235:genetics / Q000378:metabolism*; D015534:Trans-Activators / Q000235:genetics / Q000378:metabolism
chemical_list: D017931:DNA Primers; D005656:Fungal Proteins; C084121:SIR1 protein, S cerevisiae; C084122:SIR3 protein, S cerevisiae; C061573:SIR4 protein, S cerevisiae; D038281:Silent Information Regulator Proteins, Saccharomyces cerevisiae; D015534:Trans-Activators