Ll. Sandell et al., TRANSCRIPTION OF A YEAST TELOMERE ALLEVIATES TELOMERE POSITION EFFECTWITHOUT AFFECTING CHROMOSOME STABILITY, Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences of the United Statesof America, 91(25), 1994, pp. 12061-12065
Telomeres are required for the stable maintenance of chromosomes in th
e yeast Saccharomyces cerevisiae. Telomeres also repress the expressio
n of genes in their vicinity, a phenomenon known as telomere position
effect. In an attempt to construct a conditional telomere, an inducibl
e promoter was introduced adjacent to a single telomere of a chromosom
e such that transcription could be induced toward the end of the chrom
osome. Transcription toward two other essential chromosomal elements,
centromeres and origins of replication, eliminates their function. In
contrast, transcription toward a telomere did not affect the stability
function of the telomere as measured by the loss rate of the transcri
bed chromosome. Transcription proceeded through the entire length of t
he telomeric tract and caused a modest reduction in the average length
of the transcribed telomere. Transcription of the telomere substantia
lly reduced the frequency of cells in which an adjacent URA3 gene was
subject to telomere position effect. These results indicate that telom
ere position effect can be alleviated without compromising chromosome
stability.