- THIS ARTICLE
- Full Text (PDF)
- Alert me when this article is cited
- Alert me if a correction is posted
- SERVICES
- Similar articles in this journal
- Similar articles in PubMed
- Alert me to new issues of the journal
- Download to citation manager
- Reprints & Permissions
- CITING ARTICLES
- Citing Articles via HighWire
- Citing Articles via Google Scholar
- GOOGLE SCHOLAR
- Articles by Coyne, R. S.
- Articles by Yao, M. C.
- Search for Related Content
- PUBMED
- PubMed Citation
- Articles by Coyne, R. S.
- Articles by Yao, M. C.
Genetics, Vol 144, 1479-1487, Copyright © 1996
INVESTIGATIONS |
Evolutionary Conservation of Sequences Directing Chromosome Breakage and rDNA Palindrome Formation in Tetrahymenine Ciliates
R. S. Coyne and M. C. Yao
Division of Basic Sciences, Fred Hutchinson Cancer Research Center, Seattle, Washington 98104
Extensive, programmed chromosome breakage occurs during formation of the somatic macronucleus of ciliated protozoa. The cis-acting signal directing breakage has been most rigorously defined in Tetrahymena thermophila, where it consists of a 15-bp DNA sequence known as Cbs, for chromosome breakage sequence. We have identified sequences identical or nearly identical to the T. thermophila Cbs at sites of breakage flanking the germline micronuclear rDNA locus of six additional species of Tetrahymena as well as members of two related genera. Other general features of the breakage site are also conserved, but surprisingly, the orientation and number of copies of Cbs are not always conserved, suggesting the occurrence of germline rearrangement events over evolutionary time. At one end of the T. thermophila micronuclear rDNA locus, a pair of short inverted repeats adjacent to Cbs directs the formation of a giant palindromic molecule. We have examined the corresponding sequences from two other Tetrahymena species. We find the sequence to be partially conserved, as previously implied from analysis of macronuclear rDNA, but of variable length and organization.
This article has been cited by other articles:
 |
|
 |
|
  E. P. Hamilton, S. Williamson, S. Dunn, V. Merriam, C. Lin, L. Vong, J. Russell-Colantonio, and E. Orias The Highly Conserved Family of Tetrahymena thermophila Chromosome Breakage Elements Contains an Invariant 10-Base-Pair Core. Eukaryot. Cell, April 1, 2006; 5(4): 771 - 780. [Abstract] [Full Text] [PDF]
|
|
|
|
 |
|
 J. S. Yakisich and G. M. Kapler Deletion of the Tetrahymena thermophila rDNA replication fork barrier region disrupts macronuclear rDNA excision and creates a fragile site in the micronuclear genome Nucleic Acids Res., January 30, 2006; 34(2): 620 - 634. [Abstract] [Full Text] [PDF]
|
|
|
|
 |
|
 E. Hamilton, P. Bruns, C. Lin, V. Merriam, E. Orias, L. Vong, and D. Cassidy-Hanley Genome-Wide Characterization of Tetrahymena thermophila Chromosome Breakage Sites. I. Cloning and Identification of Functional Sites Genetics, August 1, 2005; 170(4): 1611 - 1621. [Abstract] [Full Text] [PDF]
|
|
|
|
|
|
Q. Fan and M.-C. Yao A long stringent sequence signal for programmed chromosome breakage in Tetrahymena thermophila Nucleic Acids Res., February 15, 2000; 28(4): 895 - 900. [Abstract] [Full Text] [PDF]
|
|
|
|
 |
|
 H. Huang, J. F. Smothers, E. A. Wiley, and C. D. Allis A Nonessential HP1-Like Protein Affects Starvation-Induced Assembly of Condensed Chromatin and Gene Expression in Macronuclei of Tetrahymena thermophila Mol. Cell. Biol., May 1, 1999; 19(5): 3624 - 3634. [Abstract] [Full Text] [PDF]
|
|