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PMID: 16143601 Published · ppublish English Comparative Study Journal Article Research Support, N.I.H., Extramural Research Support, N.I.H., Intramural Research Support, Non-U.S. Gov't

Two distinct domains in Drosophila melanogaster telomeres.

Genetics ·Vol. 171 ·No. 4 ·2005-12-00 ·Pages 1767-77

Biessmann H, Prasad S, Semeshin VF, Andreyeva EN, Nguyen Q, Walter MF, Mason JM

Abstract

Telomeres are generally considered heterochromatic. On the basis of DNA composition, the telomeric region of Drosophila melanogaster contains two distinct subdomains: a subtelomeric region of repetitive DNA, termed TAS, and a terminal array of retrotransposons, which perform the elongation function instead of telomerase. We have identified several P-element insertions into this retrotransposon array and compared expression levels of transgenes with similar integrations into TAS and euchromatic regions. In contrast to insertions in TAS, which are silenced, reporter genes in the terminal HeT-A, TAHRE, or TART retroelements did not exhibit repressed expression in comparison with the same transgene construct in euchromatin. These data, in combination with cytological studies, provide evidence that the subtelomeric TAS region exhibits features resembling heterochromatin, while the terminal retrotransposon array exhibits euchromatic characteristics.

MeSH Terms
Animals Base Sequence Blotting, Southern Chromosomes/genetics,ultrastructure Computational Biology DNA Primers Drosophila melanogaster/genetics Gene Components Genomic Library Heterochromatin/genetics In Situ Hybridization Microscopy, Electron Molecular Sequence Data Retroelements/genetics Sequence Analysis, DNA Telomere/genetics Terminal Repeat Sequences/genetics Transgenes/genetics
Chemicals
DNA Primers Heterochromatin Retroelements
Authors & Affiliations
7 authors, click to expand affiliations / ORCID
Biessmann Harald
Department of Biological Chemistry, University of California-Irvine, Irvine, CA 92697, USA.
Prasad Sudha
Semeshin Valery F
Andreyeva Eugenia N
Nguyen Quang
Walter Marika F
Mason James M
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Article Info
Journal
Genetics
Abbr.
Genetics
ISSN
0016-6731
DOI
10.1534/genetics.105.048827
Published
2005-12-00
Epub
2005-00-02
Pages
1767-77
Language
English
Region
United States
NLM ID
0374636
PMCID
PMC1382029
Subset
IM
Grants
NIEHS NIH HHS · Z01 ES021054-12 · United States
NIGMS NIH HHS · R01 GM056729 · United States
Intramural NIH HHS · United States
NIGMS NIH HHS · R01 GM056729-04 · United States
NIGMS NIH HHS · GM 56729 · United States
External Links
PubMed source DOI: 10.1534/genetics.105.048827 PMC Full Text View journal details
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