A universal telomerase RNA core structure includes structured motifs required for binding the telomerase reverse transcriptase protein.
Telomerase synthesizes telomeric DNA by copying a short template sequence within its telomerase RNA component. We delineated nucleotides and base-pairings within a previously mapped central domain of the Saccharomyces cerevisiae telomerase RNA (TLC1) that are important for telomerase function and for binding to the telomerase catalytic protein Est2p. Phylogenetic comparison of telomerase RNA sequences from several budding yeasts revealed a core structure common to Saccharomyces and Kluyveromyces yeast species. We show that in this structure three conserved sequences interact to provide a binding site for Est2p positioned near the template. These results, combined with previous studies on telomerase RNAs from other budding yeasts, vertebrates, and ciliates, define a minimal universal core for telomerase RNAs.
Lin
Jue
J
Department of Biochemistry and Biophysics, University of California, San Francisco, CA 94143, USA.
Ly
Hinh
H
Hussain
Arif
A
Abraham
Mira
M
Pearl
Sivan
S
Tzfati
Yehuda
Y
Parslow
Tristram G
TG
Blackburn
Elizabeth H
EH
D001483:Base Sequence; D001665:Binding Sites; D017124:Conserved Sequence; D004268:DNA-Binding Proteins; D008969:Molecular Sequence Data; D009690:Nucleic Acid Conformation; D010802:Phylogeny; D012331:RNA, Fungal / Q000737:chemistry / Q000235:genetics* / Q000378:metabolism; D012441:Saccharomyces cerevisiae / Q000201:enzymology / Q000235:genetics; D029701:Saccharomyces cerevisiae Proteins / Q000737:chemistry / Q000378:metabolism; D017384:Sequence Deletion; D019098:Telomerase / Q000737:chemistry / Q000378:metabolism*
D004268:DNA-Binding Proteins; D012331:RNA, Fungal; D029701:Saccharomyces cerevisiae Proteins; D019098:Telomerase