A Fission Yeast Repression Element Cooperates With Centromere-like Sequences and Defines a mat Silent Domain Boundary

Corresponding author: Amikam Cohen, Department of Molecular Biology, The Hebrew University-Hadassah Medical School, Jerusalem 91010, Israel., amikamc{at}cc.huji.ac.il (E-mail)

Communicating editor: G. R. SMITH

REII is a Schizosaccharomyces pombe repression element located at the centromere-proximal end of the mat silent domain. Here we show that inversion of REII enhances silencing on its centromere-proximal side while suppressing silencing on its centromere-distal side. Transplacement of REII to a position 2.5 kb from its native locus extends the region of stringent repression to the new REII site. These results suggest that REII defines a mat silent domain boundary by acting preferentially toward its centromere-distal side. To investigate cooperation between REII and a K-region sequence that shares homology with the centromeric dg dh repeats (cen2 homology), we targeted combinations of these elements to an ectopic site and monitored expression of an adjacent reporter gene. Centromeric dh-like sequences conferred low-level silencing on the adjacent reporter gene, and REII, which did not display silencing activity on its own, enhanced cen2 homology-mediated silencing. Cooperation was also apparent at the mat locus, where deletion of REII impaired repression stability. We propose that REII and the cen2 homology play different yet complementary roles in silencing establishment and inheritance at the mat locus.

This article has been cited by other articles:

				K. R. Hansen, P. T. Ibarra, and G. Thon Evolutionary-conserved telomere-linked helicase genes of fission yeast are repressed by silencing factors, RNAi components and the telomere-binding protein Taz1 Nucleic Acids Res., January 10, 2006; 34(1): 78 - 88. [Abstract] [Full Text] [PDF]

				O. Laufman, R. B. Yosef, N. Adir, and H. Manor Cloning and characterization of the Schizosaccharomyces pombe homologs of the human protein Translin and the Translin-associated protein TRAX Nucleic Acids Res., July 25, 2005; 33(13): 4128 - 4139. [Abstract] [Full Text] [PDF]

				A. L Pidoux and R. C Allshire The role of heterochromatin in centromere function Phil Trans R Soc B, March 29, 2005; 360(1455): 569 - 579. [Abstract] [Full Text] [PDF]

				V. J. Petrie, J. D. Wuitschick, C. D. Givens, A. M. Kosinski, and J. F. Partridge RNA Interference (RNAi)-Dependent and RNAi-Independent Association of the Chp1 Chromodomain Protein with Distinct Heterochromatic Loci in Fission Yeast Mol. Cell. Biol., March 15, 2005; 25(6): 2331 - 2346. [Abstract] [Full Text] [PDF]

				K. R. Hansen, G. Burns, J. Mata, T. A. Volpe, R. A. Martienssen, J. Bahler, and G. Thon Global Effects on Gene Expression in Fission Yeast by Silencing and RNA Interference Machineries Mol. Cell. Biol., January 15, 2005; 25(2): 590 - 601. [Abstract] [Full Text] [PDF]

				H. S. Kim, E. S. Choi, J. A Shin, Y. K. Jang, and S. D. Park Regulation of Swi6/HP1-dependent Heterochromatin Assembly by Cooperation of Components of the Mitogen-activated Protein Kinase Pathway and a Histone Deacetylase Clr6 J. Biol. Chem., October 8, 2004; 279(41): 42850 - 42859. [Abstract] [Full Text] [PDF]

				H. CAM and S.I.S. GREWAL RNA Interference and Epigenetic Control of Heterochromatin Assembly in Fission Yeast Cold Spring Harb Symp Quant Biol, January 1, 2004; 69(0): 419 - 428. [Abstract] [PDF]

				N. Ayoub, K.-i. Noma, S. Isaac, T. Kahan, S. I. S. Grewal, and A. Cohen A Novel jmjC Domain Protein Modulates Heterochromatization in Fission Yeast Mol. Cell. Biol., June 15, 2003; 23(12): 4356 - 4370. [Abstract] [Full Text] [PDF]

				G. Singh and A. J. S. Klar The 2.1-kb Inverted Repeat DNA Sequences Flank the mat2,3 Silent Region in Two Species of Schizosaccharomyces and Are Involved in Epigenetic Silencing in Schizosaccharomyces pombe Genetics, October 1, 2002; 162(2): 591 - 602. [Abstract] [Full Text] [PDF]

				I. M. Hall, G. D. Shankaranarayana, K.-i. Noma, N. Ayoub, A. Cohen, and S. I. S. Grewal Establishment and Maintenance of a Heterochromatin Domain Science, September 27, 2002; 297(5590): 2232 - 2237. [Abstract] [Full Text] [PDF]

				T. A. Volpe, C. Kidner, I. M. Hall, G. Teng, S. I. S. Grewal, and R. A. Martienssen Regulation of Heterochromatic Silencing and Histone H3 Lysine-9 Methylation by RNAi Science, September 13, 2002; 297(5588): 1833 - 1837. [Abstract] [Full Text] [PDF]

				B. J. Reinhart and D. P. Bartel Small RNAs Correspond to Centromere Heterochromatic Repeats Science, September 13, 2002; 297(5588): 1831 - 1831. [Full Text] [PDF]

				I. Sig Nielsen, O. Nielsen, J. M. Murray, and G. Thon The Fission Yeast Ubiquitin-Conjugating Enzymes UbcP3, Ubc15, and Rhp6 Affect Transcriptional Silencing of the Mating-Type Region Eukaryot. Cell, August 1, 2002; 1(4): 613 - 625. [Abstract] [Full Text] [PDF]

				G. Thon, P. Bjerling, C. M. Bunner, and J. Verhein-Hansen Expression-State Boundaries in the Mating-Type Region of Fission Yeast Genetics, June 1, 2002; 161(2): 611 - 622. [Abstract] [Full Text] [PDF]

				Y. Huang Transcriptional silencing in Saccharomyces cerevisiae and Schizosaccharomyces pombe Nucleic Acids Res., April 1, 2002; 30(7): 1465 - 1482. [Abstract] [Full Text] [PDF]

				A. G. West, M. Gaszner, and G. Felsenfeld Insulators: many functions, many mechanisms Genes & Dev., February 1, 2002; 16(3): 271 - 288. [Full Text] [PDF]

				E. Lebrun, E. Revardel, C. Boscheron, R. Li, E. Gilson, and G. Fourel Protosilencers in Saccharomyces cerevisiae Subtelomeric Regions Genetics, May 1, 2001; 158(1): 167 - 176. [Abstract] [Full Text]