Genetics, Vol 140, 945-956, Copyright © 1995

INVESTIGATIONS

RTM1: A Member of a New Family of Telomeric Repeated Genes in Yeast

F. Ness and M. Aigle
Present address: Transgene S.A., 11 rue de Molsheim, F-67082 Strasbourg Cedex, France.

We have isolated a new yeast gene called RTM1 whose overexpression confers resistance to the toxicity of molasses. The RTM1 gene encodes a hydrophobic 34-kD protein that contains seven potential transmembrane-spanning segments. Analysis of a series of industrial strains shows that the sequence is present in multiple copies and in variable locations in the genome. RTM loci are always physically associated with SUC telomeric loci. The SUC-RTM sequences are located between X and Y' subtelomeric sequences at chromosome ends. Surprisingly RTM sequences are not detected in the laboratory strain X2180. The lack of this sequence is associated with the absence of any SUC telomeric gene previously described. This observation raises the question of the origin of this nonessential gene. The particular subtelomeric position might explain the SUC-RTM sequence amplification observed in the genome of yeasts used in industrial biomass or ethanol production with molasses as substrate. This SUC-RTM sequence dispersion seems to be a good example of genomic rearrangement playing a role in evolution and environmental adaptation in these industrial yeasts.

This article has been cited by other articles:

				O. Protchenko, M. Shakoury-Elizeh, P. Keane, J. Storey, R. Androphy, and C. C. Philpott Role of PUG1 in Inducible Porphyrin and Heme Transport in Saccharomyces cerevisiae Eukaryot. Cell, May 1, 2008; 7(5): 859 - 871. [Abstract] [Full Text] [PDF]

				A. Sehgal, B. T. Hughes, and P. J. Espenshade Oxygen-dependent, alternative promoter controls translation of tco1+ in fission yeast Nucleic Acids Res., April 1, 2008; 36(6): 2024 - 2031. [Abstract] [Full Text] [PDF]

				W. Wei, J. H. McCusker, R. W. Hyman, T. Jones, Y. Ning, Z. Cao, Z. Gu, D. Bruno, M. Miranda, M. Nguyen, et al. Genome sequencing and comparative analysis of Saccharomyces cerevisiae strain YJM789 PNAS, July 31, 2007; 104(31): 12825 - 12830. [Abstract] [Full Text] [PDF]

				E. Fabre, H. Muller, P. Therizols, I. Lafontaine, B. Dujon, and C. Fairhead Comparative Genomics in Hemiascomycete Yeasts: Evolution of Sex, Silencing, and Subtelomeres Mol. Biol. Evol., April 1, 2005; 22(4): 856 - 873. [Abstract] [Full Text] [PDF]

				J. E. Perez-Ortin, A. Querol, S. Puig, and E. Barrio Molecular Characterization of a Chromosomal Rearrangement Involved in the Adaptive Evolution of Yeast Strains Genome Res., October 1, 2002; 12(10): 1533 - 1539. [Abstract] [Full Text] [PDF]

				A. Kihara and Y. Igarashi Identification and Characterization of a Saccharomyces cerevisiae Gene, RSB1, Involved in Sphingoid Long-chain Base Release J. Biol. Chem., August 9, 2002; 277(33): 30048 - 30054. [Abstract] [Full Text] [PDF]

				M.-L. Pardue, P. G. DeBaryshe, and K. Lowenhaupt Another protozoan contributes to understanding telomeres and transposable elements PNAS, December 4, 2001; 98(25): 14195 - 14197. [Full Text] [PDF]

				O. N. Danilevskaya, K. L. Traverse, N. C. Hogan, P. G. DeBaryshe, and M. L. Pardue The Two Drosophila Telomeric Transposable Elements Have Very Different Patterns of Transcription Mol. Cell. Biol., January 1, 1999; 19(1): 873 - 881. [Abstract] [Full Text] [PDF]

				G. Bosco and J. E. Haber Chromosome Break-Induced DNA Replication Leads to Nonreciprocal Translocations and Telomere Capture Genetics, November 1, 1998; 150(3): 1037 - 1047. [Abstract] [Full Text]

				S. Bassham, A. Beam, and J. Shampay Telomere Variation in Xenopus laevis Mol. Cell. Biol., January 1, 1998; 18(1): 269 - 275. [Abstract] [Full Text]