scholarly journals Telomeric chromosome ends are highly mobile and behave like free double-strand DNA breaks

2019 ◽  
Author(s):  
Mathias Toulouze ◽  
Assaf Amitai ◽  
Ofir Shukron ◽  
David Holcman ◽  
Karine Dubrana
Keyword(s):  
Nuclear Periphery ◽  
Spindle Pole Body ◽  
Strand Break ◽  
Spindle Pole ◽  
Dna Breaks ◽  
Computational Approaches ◽  
Pole Body ◽  
Double Strand Dna Breaks ◽  
Chromosome Arm ◽  
Approaches To Study

AbstractChromosome organization and dynamics are critical for DNA transactions, including gene expression, replication, and DNA repair. In yeast, the chromosomes are anchored through their centromeres to the spindle pole body, and their telomeres are grouped into clusters at the nuclear periphery, constraining chromosome mobility. Here, we have used experimental and computational approaches to study the effects of chromosome-nuclear envelope (NE) attachments on the dynamics of S. cerevisiae chromosomes. We found that although centromere proximal loci were, as predicted, more dynamically constrained than distal loci, telomeres were highly mobile, even when positioned at the nuclear periphery. Polymer modeling indicated that polymer ends are intrinsically more mobile than internal sites. We tested this model by measuring the mobility of a double strand break (DSB) end within a chromosome arm. Upon separation of the DSB ends, their mobility significantly increased. Altogether, our results reveal that telomeres behave as highly mobile polymer ends, despite interactions with the nuclear membrane.

scholarly journals NDC1: a nuclear periphery component required for yeast spindle pole body duplication

1993 ◽  
Vol 122 (4) ◽  
pp. 743-751 ◽  
Author(s):  
M Winey ◽  
MA Hoyt ◽  
C Chan ◽  
L Goetsch ◽  
D Botstein ◽  
...  
Keyword(s):  
Nuclear Envelope ◽  
Mitotic Spindle ◽  
Nuclear Periphery ◽  
Spindle Pole Body ◽  
Spindle Pole ◽  
Immunofluorescent Localization ◽  
Pole Body ◽  
Acid Protein ◽  
Monopolar Spindle ◽  
Mutant Cells

The spindle pole body (SPB) of Saccharomyces cerevisiae serves as the centrosome in this organism, undergoing duplication early in the cell cycle to generate the two poles of the mitotic spindle. The conditional lethal mutation ndc1-1 has previously been shown to cause asymmetric segregation, wherein all the chromosomes go to one pole of the mitotic spindle (Thomas, J. H., and D. Botstein. 1986. Cell. 44:65-76). Examination by electron microscopy of mutant cells subjected to the nonpermissive temperature reveals a defect in SPB duplication. Although duplication is seen to occur, the nascent SPB fails to undergo insertion into the nuclear envelope. The parental SPB remains functional, organizing a monopolar spindle to which all the chromosomes are presumably attached. Order-of-function experiments reveal that the NDC1 function is required in G1 after alpha-factor arrest but before the arrest caused by cdc34. Molecular analysis shows that the NDC1 gene is essential and that it encodes a 656 amino acid protein (74 kD) with six or seven putative transmembrane domains. This evidence for membrane association is further supported by immunofluorescent localization of the NDC1 product to the vicinity of the nuclear envelope. These findings suggest that the NDC1 protein acts within the nuclear envelope to mediate insertion of the nascent SPB.

scholarly journals Chromosome arm length and nuclear constraints determine the dynamic relationship of yeast subtelomeres

2010 ◽  
Vol 107 (5) ◽  
pp. 2025-2030 ◽  
Author(s):  
Pierre Therizols ◽  
Tarn Duong ◽  
Bernard Dujon ◽  
Christophe Zimmer ◽  
Emmanuelle Fabre
Keyword(s):  
Nuclear Periphery ◽  
Spindle Pole Body ◽  
Spindle Pole ◽  
Yeast Cells ◽  
Nuclear Space ◽  
Microtubule Organizing Center ◽  
Physical Constraints ◽  
Dynamic Relationship ◽  
Chromosome Arm

Physical interactions between distinct chromosomal genomic loci are important for genomic functions including recombination and gene expression, but the mechanisms by which these interactions occur remain obscure. Using telomeric association as a model system, we analyzed here the in vivo organization of chromosome ends of haploid yeast cells during interphase. We separately labeled most of the 32 subtelomeres and analyzed their positions both in nuclear space and relative to three representative reference subtelomeres by high-throughput 3D microscopy and image processing. We show that subtelomeres are positioned nonrandomly at the nuclear periphery, depending on the genomic size of their chromosome arm, centromere attachment to the microtubule organizing center (spindle pole body, SPB), and the volume of the nucleolus. The distance of subtelomeres to the SPB increases consistently with chromosome arm length up to ≈300 kb; for larger arms the influence of chromosome arm length is weaker, but the effect of the nucleolar volume is stronger. Distances between pairs of subtelomeres also exhibit arm-length dependence and suggest, together with dynamic tracking experiments, that potential associations between subtelomeres are unexpectedly infrequent and transient. Our results suggest that interactions between subtelomeres are nonspecific and instead governed by physical constraints, including chromosome structure, attachment to the SPB, and nuclear crowding.

scholarly journals The product of the spindle formation gene sad1+ associates with the fission yeast spindle pole body and is essential for viability.

1995 ◽  
Vol 129 (4) ◽  
pp. 1033-1047 ◽  
Author(s):  
I Hagan ◽  
M Yanagida
Keyword(s):  
Fission Yeast ◽  
Nuclear Membrane ◽  
Essential Gene ◽  
Nuclear Periphery ◽  
Spindle Pole Body ◽  
Spindle Pole ◽  
Temperature Sensitive ◽  
Spindle Formation ◽  
Isolation And Characterization ◽  
Pole Body

Spindle formation in fission yeast occurs by the interdigitation of two microtubule arrays extending from duplicated spindle pole bodies which span the nuclear membrane. By screening a bank of temperature-sensitive mutants by anti-tubulin immunofluorescence microscopy, we previously identified the sad1.1 mutation (Hagan, I., and M. Yanagida. 1990. Nature (Lond.). 347:563-566). Here we describe the isolation and characterization of the sad1+ gene. We show that the sad1.1 mutation affected both spindle formation and function. The sad1+ gene is a novel essential gene that encodes a protein with a predicted molecular mass of 58 kD. Deletion of the gene was lethal resulting in identical phenotypes to the sad1.1 mutation. Sequence analysis predicted a potential membrane-spanning domain and an acidic amino terminus. Sad1 protein migrated as two bands of 82 and 84 kD on SDS-PAGE, considerably slower than its predicted mobility, and was exclusively associated with the spindle pole body (SPB) throughout the mitotic and meiotic cycles. Microtubule integrity was not required for Sad1 association with the SPB. Upon the differentiation of the SPB in metaphase of meiosis II, Sad1-staining patterns similarly changed from a dot to a crescent supporting an integral role in SPB function. Moderate overexpression of Sad1 led to association with the nuclear periphery. As Sad1 was not detected in the cytoplasmic microtubule-organizing centers activated at the end of anaphase or kinetochores, we suggest that Sad1 is not a general component of microtubule-interacting structures per se, but is an essential mitotic component that associates with the SPB but is not required for microtubule nucleation. Sad1 may play a role in SPB structure, such as maintaining a functional interface with the nuclear membrane or in providing an anchor for the attachment of microtubule motor proteins.

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