Telomerase, an essential enzyme that maintains chromosome ends, is important for genome integrity and organism development. Various hypotheses have been proposed in human, ciliate and yeast systems to explain the coordination of telomerase holoenzyme assembly and the timing of telomerase performance at telomeres during DNA replication or repair. However, a general model is still unclear, especially pathways connecting telomerase with proposed non-telomeric functions. To strengthen our understanding of telomerase function during its intracellular life, we report on interactions of several groups of proteins with the Arabidopsis telomerase protein subunit (AtTERT) and/or a component of telomerase holoenzyme, POT1a protein. Among these are the nucleosome assembly proteins (NAP) and the minichromosome maintenance (MCM) system, which reveal new insights into the telomerase interaction network with links to telomere chromatin assembly and replication. A targeted investigation of 176 candidate proteins demonstrated numerous interactions with nucleolar, transport and ribosomal proteins, as well as molecular chaperones, shedding light on interactions during telomerase biogenesis. We further identified protein domains responsible for binding and analyzed the subcellular localization of these interactions. Moreover, additional interaction networks of NAP proteins and the DOMINO1 protein were identified. Our data support an image of functional telomerase contacts with multiprotein complexes including chromatin remodeling and cell differentiation pathways.

• Klíčová slova
• Arabidopsis, chromatin, folding, mitochondria, protein–protein interaction, replication, telomerase, transport,
• MeSH
• Arabidopsis metabolismus   MeSH
• genetická transkripce MeSH
• Golgiho aparát metabolismus   MeSH
• homeostáza telomer MeSH
• mapy interakcí proteinů MeSH
• mitochondrie metabolismus   MeSH
• multiproteinové komplexy metabolismus   MeSH
• nukleozomy metabolismus   MeSH
• peptidy metabolismus   MeSH
• posttranskripční úpravy RNA genetika   MeSH
• proteiny huseníčku chemie   metabolismus   MeSH
• proteiny vázající telomery metabolismus   MeSH
• regulace genové exprese u rostlin MeSH
• replikace DNA MeSH
• restrukturace chromatinu MeSH
• ribozomy metabolismus   MeSH
• telomerasa metabolismus   MeSH
• vazba proteinů MeSH
• Publikační typ
• časopisecké články MeSH
• Názvy látek
• multiproteinové komplexy MeSH
• nukleozomy MeSH
• peptidy MeSH
• proteiny huseníčku MeSH
• proteiny vázající telomery MeSH
• telomerasa MeSH

The WEE1 and ATM AND RAD3-RELATED (ATR) kinases are important regulators of the plant intra-S-phase checkpoint; consequently, WEE1KO and ATRKO roots are hypersensitive to replication-inhibitory drugs. Here, we report on a loss-of-function mutant allele of the FASCIATA1 (FAS1) subunit of the chromatin assembly factor 1 (CAF-1) complex that suppresses the phenotype of WEE1- or ATR-deficient Arabidopsis (Arabidopsis thaliana) plants. We demonstrate that lack of FAS1 activity results in the activation of an ATAXIA TELANGIECTASIA MUTATED (ATM)- and SUPPRESSOR OF GAMMA-RESPONSE 1 (SOG1)-mediated G2/M-arrest that renders the ATR and WEE1 checkpoint regulators redundant. This ATM activation accounts for the telomere erosion and loss of ribosomal DNA that are described for fas1 plants. Knocking out SOG1 in the fas1 wee1 background restores replication stress sensitivity, demonstrating that SOG1 is an important secondary checkpoint regulator in plants that fail to activate the intra-S-phase checkpoint.

• MeSH
• Arabidopsis genetika   fyziologie   MeSH
• ATM protein genetika   metabolismus   MeSH
• fyziologický stres MeSH
• genom rostlinný MeSH
• nestabilita genomu MeSH
• protein-serin-threoninkinasy genetika   metabolismus   MeSH
• proteiny huseníčku genetika   metabolismus   MeSH
• protoonkogenní proteiny c-myb genetika   metabolismus   MeSH
• replikace DNA * MeSH
• signální transdukce * MeSH
• transkripční faktory genetika   metabolismus   MeSH
• Publikační typ
• časopisecké články MeSH
• práce podpořená grantem MeSH
• Názvy látek
• ATM protein, Arabidopsis MeSH Prohlížeč
• ATM protein MeSH
• ATR1 protein, Arabidopsis MeSH Prohlížeč
• FAS protein, Arabidopsis MeSH Prohlížeč
• protein-serin-threoninkinasy MeSH
• proteiny huseníčku MeSH
• protoonkogenní proteiny c-myb MeSH
• SOG1 protein, Arabidopsis MeSH Prohlížeč
• transkripční faktory MeSH
• WEE1 protein, Arabidopsis MeSH Prohlížeč

A comparative approach in biology is needed to assess the universality of rules governing this discipline. In plant telomere research, most of the key principles were established based on studies in only single model plant, Arabidopsis thaliana. These principles include the absence of telomere shortening during plant development and the corresponding activity of telomerase in dividing (meristem) plant cells. Here we examine these principles in Physcomitrella patens as a representative of lower plants. To follow telomerase expression, we first characterize the gene coding for the telomerase reverse transcriptase subunit PpTERT in P. patens, for which only incomplete prediction has been available so far. In protonema cultures of P. patens, growing by filament apical cell division, the proportion of apical (dividing) cells was quantified and telomere length, telomerase expression and activity were determined. Our results show telomere stability and demonstrate proportionality of telomerase activity and expression with the number of apical cells. In addition, we analyze telomere maintenance in mre11, rad50, nbs1, ku70 and lig4 mutants of P. patens and compare the impact of these mutations in double-strand-break (DSB) repair pathways with earlier observations in corresponding A. thaliana mutants. Telomere phenotypes are absent and DSB repair kinetics is not affected in P. patens mutants for DSB factors involved in non-homologous end joining (NHEJ). This is compliant with the overall dominance of homologous recombination over NHEJ pathways in the moss, contrary to the inverse situation in flowering plants.

• MeSH
• Arabidopsis genetika   MeSH
• chromozomy rostlin genetika   MeSH
• DNA rostlinná genetika   MeSH
• dvouřetězcové zlomy DNA MeSH
• fenotyp MeSH
• fylogeneze MeSH
• homeostáza telomer genetika   MeSH
• homologní rekombinace MeSH
• mechy genetika   metabolismus   MeSH
• molekulární sekvence - údaje MeSH
• mutace MeSH
• oprava DNA * MeSH
• rostlinné proteiny genetika   metabolismus   MeSH
• sekvence aminokyselin MeSH
• sekvence nukleotidů MeSH
• sekvenční analýza DNA MeSH
• sekvenční seřazení MeSH
• telomerasa genetika   metabolismus   MeSH
• telomery genetika   MeSH
• Publikační typ
• časopisecké články MeSH
• práce podpořená grantem MeSH
• Názvy látek
• DNA rostlinná MeSH
• rostlinné proteiny MeSH
• telomerasa MeSH

Arabidopsis thaliana mutants in FAS1 and FAS2 subunits of chromatin assembly factor 1 (CAF1) show progressive loss of 45S rDNA copies and telomeres. We hypothesized that homology-dependent DNA damage repair (HDR) may contribute to the loss of these repeats in fas mutants. To test this, we generated double mutants by crossing fas mutants with knock-out mutants in RAD51B, one of the Rad51 paralogs of A. thaliana. Our results show that the absence of RAD51B decreases the rate of rDNA loss, confirming the implication of RAD51B-dependent recombination in rDNA loss in the CAF1 mutants. Interestingly, this effect is not observed for telomeric repeat loss, which thus differs from that acting in rDNA loss. Involvement of DNA damage repair in rDNA dynamics in fas mutants is further supported by accumulation of double-stranded breaks (measured as γ-H2AX foci) in 45S rDNA. Occurrence of the foci is not specific for S-phase, and is ATM-independent. While the foci in fas mutants occur both in the transcribed (intranucleolar) and non-transcribed (nucleoplasmic) fraction of rDNA, double fas rad51b mutants show a specific increase in the number of the intranucleolar foci. These results suggest that the repair of double-stranded breaks present in the transcribed rDNA region is RAD51B dependent and that this contributes to rDNA repeat loss in fas mutants, presumably via the single-stranded annealing recombination pathway. Our results also highlight the importance of proper chromatin assembly in the maintenance of genome stability.

• Klíčová slova
• 45S rDNA, Arabidopsis thaliana, DNA repair, FAS1, FAS2, RAD51B, chromatin assembly factor 1, genome instability,
• MeSH
• Arabidopsis genetika   metabolismus   MeSH
• faktor 1 pro uspořádání chromatinu genetika   metabolismus   MeSH
• nestabilita genomu genetika   fyziologie   MeSH
• oprava DNA genetika   fyziologie   MeSH
• proteiny huseníčku genetika   metabolismus   MeSH
• ribozomální DNA genetika   MeSH
• Publikační typ
• časopisecké články MeSH
• práce podpořená grantem MeSH
• Názvy látek
• faktor 1 pro uspořádání chromatinu MeSH
• FAS protein, Arabidopsis MeSH Prohlížeč
• proteiny huseníčku MeSH
• RAD51B protein, Arabidopsis MeSH Prohlížeč
• ribozomální DNA MeSH

Telomeres, nucleoprotein structures at the ends of linear eukaryotic chromosomes, are important for the maintenance of genomic stability. Telomeres were considered as typical heterochromatic regions, but in light of recent results, this view should be reconsidered. Asymmetrically located cytosines in plant telomeric DNA repeats may be substrates for a DNA methyltransferase enzyme and indeed, it was shown that these repeats are methylated. Here, we analyse the methylation of telomeric cytosines and the length of telomeres in Arabidopsis thaliana methylation mutants (met 1-3 and ddm 1-8), and in their wild-type siblings that were germinated in the presence of hypomethylation drugs. Our results show that cytosine methylation in telomeric repeats depends on the activity of MET1 and DDM1 enzymes. Significantly shortened telomeres occur in later generations of methylation mutants as well as in plants germinated in the presence of hypomethylation drugs, and this phenotype is stably transmitted to the next plant generation. A possible role of compromised in vivo telomerase action in the observed telomere shortening is hypothesized based on telomere analysis of hypomethylated telomerase knockout plants. Results are discussed in connection with previous data in this field obtained using different model systems.

• MeSH
• Arabidopsis enzymologie   genetika   metabolismus   MeSH
• cytosin metabolismus   MeSH
• homeostáza telomer MeSH
• metylace DNA * MeSH
• repetitivní sekvence nukleových kyselin MeSH
• rostliny genetika   metabolismus   MeSH
• telomerasa metabolismus   MeSH
• telomery chemie   metabolismus   MeSH
• zkracování telomer * MeSH
• Publikační typ
• časopisecké články MeSH
• práce podpořená grantem MeSH
• Názvy látek
• cytosin MeSH
• telomerasa MeSH