Species-specific and sequence-specific recognition of the dG-rich strand of telomeres by yeast telomerase

Authors: Lue, Neal F.; Xia, Jinqiang

Source: Nucleic Acids Research, Volume 26, Number 6, 15 March 1998 , pp. 1495-1502(8)

Publisher: Oxford University Press

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Abstract:

A gel mobility shift assay was developed to examine recognition of yeast telomeres by telomerase. An RNase-sensitive G-rich strand-specific binding activity can be detected in partially purified yeast telomerase fractions. The binding activity was attributed to telomerase, because it co-purifies with TLC1 RNA and telomerase activity over three different chromatographic steps and because the complex co-migrates with TLC1 RNA when subjected to electrophoresis through native gels. Analysis of the binding specificity of yeast telomerase indicates that it recognizes the G-rich strand of yeast telomeres with high affinity and specificity. The Kd for the interaction is sim

3 nM. Single-stranded G-rich telomeres from other species, such as human and Tetrahymena, though capable of being extended by yeast telomerase in polymerization assays at high concentrations, bind the enzyme with at least 100-fold lower affinities. The ability of a sequence to be bound tightly by yeast telomerase in vitro correlates with its ability to seed telomere formation in vivo. The implications of these findings for regulation of telomerase activity are discussed.

Document Type: Research article

Publication date: 1998-03-15

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Nucleic Acids Research (NAR) is a fully Open Access journal, providing rapid publication of leading edge research into the nucleic acids under the following categories: chemistry, computational biology, genomics, molecular biology, nucleic acid enzymes, RNA and structural biology. There is a Survey and Summary section, and methods papers are published
in NAR Methods Online. Each year the first issue is devoted to biological databases, and a later issue to relevant web-based software resources.