Conserved telomere maintenance component 1 interacts with STN1 and maintains chromosome ends in higher eukaryotes.
Orthologs of the yeast telomere protein Stn1 are present in plants, but other components of the Cdc13/Stn1/Ten1 (CST) complex have only been found in fungi. Here we report the identification of conserved telomere maintenance component 1 (CTC1) in plants and vertebrates. CTC1 encodes an approximately 140 kDa telomere-associated protein predicted to contain multiple OB-fold domains. Arabidopsis mutants null for CTC1 display a severe telomere deprotection phenotype accompanied by a rapid onset of developmental defects and sterility. Telomeric and subtelomeric tracts are dramatically eroded, and chromosome ends exhibit increased G overhangs, recombination, and end-to-end fusions. AtCTC1 both physically and genetically interacts with AtSTN1. Depletion of human CTC1 by RNAi triggers a DNA damage response, chromatin bridges, increased G overhangs, and sporadic telomere loss. These data indicate that CTC1 participates in telomere maintenance in diverse species and that a CST-like complex is required for telomere integrity in multicellular organisms.
Department of Biochemistry and Biophysics, Texas A&M University, 2128 TAMU, College Station, TX 77843-2128, USA.
Yulia V
YV
Surovtseva
Dmitri
D
Churikov
Kara A
KA
Boltz
Xiangyu
X
Song
Jonathan C
JC
Lamb
Ross
R
Warrington
Katherine
K
Leehy
Michelle
M
Heacock
Carolyn M
CM
Price
Dorothy E
DE
Shippen
D000705:Anaphase; D017360:Arabidopsis / Q000378:metabolism*; D029681:Arabidopsis Proteins / Q000378:metabolism*; D045744:Cell Line, Tumor; D002868:Chromosomal Proteins, Non-Histone / Q000378:metabolism*; D032461:Chromosomes, Plant / Q000378:metabolism*; D017124:Conserved Sequence; D005057:Eukaryotic Cells / Q000378:metabolism*; D042822:Genomic Instability; D006801:Humans; D017404:In Situ Hybridization, Fluorescence; D009154:Mutation / Q000235:genetics; D009690:Nucleic Acid Conformation; D011485:Protein Binding; D011995:Recombination, Genetic / Q000235:genetics; D016615:Telomere / Q000378:metabolism; D034501:Telomere-Binding Proteins / Q000378:metabolism*
D029681:Arabidopsis Proteins; C544991:CTC1 protein, Arabidopsis; D002868:Chromosomal Proteins, Non-Histone; C534225:STN1 protein, Arabidopsis; D034501:Telomere-Binding Proteins