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PMID: 17971862 Published · epublish English Journal Article Research Support, Non-U.S. Gov't

An RNA polymerase III-dependent heterochromatin barrier at fission yeast centromere 1.

PloS one ·Vol. 2 ·No. 10 ·2007-10-31 ·Pages e1099

Scott KC, White CV, Willard HF

Abstract

Heterochromatin formation involves the nucleation and spreading of structural and epigenetic features along the chromatin fiber. Chromatin barriers and associated proteins counteract the spreading of heterochromatin, thereby restricting it to specific regions of the genome. We have performed gene expression studies and chromatin immunoprecipitation on strains in which native centromere sequences have been mutated to study the mechanism by which a tRNA(Alanine) gene barrier (cen1 tDNA(Ala)) blocks the spread of pericentromeric heterochromatin at the centromere of chromosome 1 (cen1) in the fission yeast, Schizosaccharomyces pombe. Within the centromere, barrier activity is a general property of tDNAs and, unlike previously characterized barriers, requires the association of both transcription factor IIIC and RNA Polymerase III. Although the cen1 tDNA(Ala) gene is actively transcribed, barrier activity is independent of transcriptional orientation. These findings provide experimental evidence for the involvement of a fully assembled RNA polymerase III transcription complex in defining independent structural and functional domains at a eukaryotic centromere.

MeSH Terms
Alanine/chemistry Cell Cycle Centromere/ultrastructure Chromatin Fungal Proteins Gene Expression Regulation, Fungal Genes, Fungal Heterochromatin/chemistry Models, Biological Plasmids/metabolism RNA Polymerase III/chemistry RNA, Transfer/chemistry Schizosaccharomyces/metabolism,physiology Schizosaccharomyces pombe Proteins/chemistry
Chemicals
Chromatin Fungal Proteins Heterochromatin Schizosaccharomyces pombe Proteins RNA, Transfer RNA Polymerase III Alanine
Authors & Affiliations
3 authors, click to expand affiliations / ORCID
Scott Kristin C
Institute for Genome Sciences and Policy, Duke University, Durham, North Carolina, United States of America. kristin.scott@duke.edu
White Caroline V
Willard Huntington F
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Article Info
Journal
PloS one
Abbr.
PLoS One
ISSN
1932-6203
DOI
10.1371/journal.pone.0001099
Email
kristin.scott@duke.edu
Published
2007-10-31
Epub
2007-00-31
Pages
e1099
Language
English
Region
United States
NLM ID
101285081
PMCID
PMC2040200
Subset
IM
External Links
PubMed source DOI: 10.1371/journal.pone.0001099 PMC Full Text View journal details
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