Telomere configuration influences the choice of telomere maintenance pathways.
Telomere maintenance is required for chromosome stability, and telomeres are typically replicated by the action of telomerase. In yeast cells that lack telomerase, telomeres are maintained by alternative type I and type II recombination mechanisms. Previous studies identified several proteins to control the choice between two types of recombinations. Here, we demonstrate that configuration of telomeres also plays a role to determine the fate of telomere replication in progeny. When diploid yeasts from mating equip with a specific type of telomeric structure in their genomes, they prefer to maintain this type of telomere replication in their descendants. While inherited telomere structure is easier to be utilized in progeny at the beginning stage, the telomeres in type I diploids can gradually switch to the type II cells in liquid culture. Importantly, the TLC1/tlc1 yeast cells develop type II survivors suggesting that haploid insufficiency of telomerase RNA component, which is similar to a type of dyskeratosis congenital in human. Altogether, our results suggest that both protein factors and substrate availability contribute to the choice among telomere replication pathways in yeast.
Wen
Wan-Ying
WY
Department of Microbiology, College of Medicine, National Taiwan University, Taipei 100, Taiwan, ROC.
Tsai
Hung-Ji
HJ
Lin
Chuan-Chuan
CC
Tseng
Shun-Fu
SF
Wong
Chui-Wei
CW
Teng
Shu-Chun
SC
D001483:Base Sequence; D004261:DNA Replication / Q000235:genetics*; D008969:Molecular Sequence Data; D011995:Recombination, Genetic / Q000235:genetics*; D004718:Saccharomycetales / Q000235:genetics*; D015398:Signal Transduction / Q000235:genetics*; D013329:Structure-Activity Relationship; D016615:Telomere / Q000235:genetics*