TY - JOUR
T1 - Position effect at S. cerevisiae telomeres
T2 - Reversible repression of Pol II transcription
AU - Gottschling, Daniel E.
AU - Aparicio, Oscar M.
AU - Billington, Barbara L.
AU - Zakian, Virginia A.
N1 - Funding Information:
Acknowledgments We thank our colleagues in Chicago and Seattle for their comments on the manuscript, L. Hartwell and S. Kronmal for yeast strains, C. Newlon and V. Williamson for plasmids, P Linder for DNA sequence information on ALE2 prior to publication, and J. Shapiro for help and advice with photography of colonies. This work was supported by an NSF predoctoral fellowship to 0. M. A., an NIH postdoctoral fellowship, a Mellon Foundation junior scholar award, and an NIH core grant CA14599-16 to D. E. G., and NIH grant GM26938 to V. A. 2.
PY - 1990/11/16
Y1 - 1990/11/16
N2 - S. cerevisiae chromosomes end with the telomeric repeat (TG1-3)n. When any of four Pol II genes was placed immediately adjacent to the telomeric repeats, expression of the gene was reversibly repressed as demonstrated by phenotype and mRNA analyses. For example, cells bearing a telomere-linked copy of ADE2 produced predominantly red colonies (a phenotype characteristic of ade2- cells) containing white sectors (characteristic of ADE2+ cells). Repression was due to proximity to the telomere itself since an 81 bp tract of (TG1-3)n positioned downstream of URA3 when URA3 was ∼20 kb from the end of chromosome VII did not alter expression of the gene. However, this internal tract of (TG1-3)n could spontaneously become telomeric, in which case expression of the URA3 gene was repressed. These data demonstrate that yeast telomeres exert a position effect on the transcription of nearby genes, an effect that is under epigenetic control.
AB - S. cerevisiae chromosomes end with the telomeric repeat (TG1-3)n. When any of four Pol II genes was placed immediately adjacent to the telomeric repeats, expression of the gene was reversibly repressed as demonstrated by phenotype and mRNA analyses. For example, cells bearing a telomere-linked copy of ADE2 produced predominantly red colonies (a phenotype characteristic of ade2- cells) containing white sectors (characteristic of ADE2+ cells). Repression was due to proximity to the telomere itself since an 81 bp tract of (TG1-3)n positioned downstream of URA3 when URA3 was ∼20 kb from the end of chromosome VII did not alter expression of the gene. However, this internal tract of (TG1-3)n could spontaneously become telomeric, in which case expression of the URA3 gene was repressed. These data demonstrate that yeast telomeres exert a position effect on the transcription of nearby genes, an effect that is under epigenetic control.
UR - http://www.scopus.com/inward/record.url?scp=0025201982&partnerID=8YFLogxK
UR - http://www.scopus.com/inward/citedby.url?scp=0025201982&partnerID=8YFLogxK
U2 - 10.1016/0092-8674(90)90141-Z
DO - 10.1016/0092-8674(90)90141-Z
M3 - Article
C2 - 2225075
AN - SCOPUS:0025201982
SN - 0092-8674
VL - 63
SP - 751
EP - 762
JO - Cell
JF - Cell
IS - 4
ER -