Mating-type Switching and Mitotic Crossing-over at the Mating-type Locus in Fission Yeast

1981 ◽  
Vol 45 (0) ◽  
pp. 1003-1007 ◽  
Author(s):  
R. Egel
Keyword(s):  
Fission Yeast ◽  
Mating Type ◽  
Crossing Over ◽  
Type Locus ◽  
Mating Type Locus ◽  
Mating Type Switching

scholarly journals The fission yeast heterochromatin protein Rik1 is required for telomere clustering during meiosis

2004 ◽  
Vol 165 (6) ◽  
pp. 759-765 ◽  
Author(s):  
Creighton T. Tuzon ◽  
Britta Borgstrom ◽  
Dietmar Weilguny ◽  
Richard Egel ◽  
Julia Promisel Cooper ◽  
...  
Keyword(s):  
Fission Yeast ◽  
Mating Type ◽  
Sexual Differentiation ◽  
Histone H3 ◽  
Heterochromatin Protein ◽  
Type Locus ◽  
Heterochromatin Formation ◽  
Mating Type Locus ◽  
Telomere Protein ◽  
Chromosome Movements

Telomeres share the ability to silence nearby transcription with heterochromatin, but the requirement of heterochromatin proteins for most telomere functions is unknown. The fission yeast Rik1 protein is required for heterochromatin formation at centromeres and the mating-type locus, as it recruits the Clr4 histone methyltransferase, whose modification of histone H3 triggers binding by Swi6, a conserved protein involved in spreading of heterochromatin. Here, we demonstrate that Rik1 and Clr4, but not Swi6, are required along with the telomere protein Taz1 for crucial chromosome movements during meiosis. However, Rik1 is dispensable for the protective roles of telomeres in preventing chromosome end-fusion. Thus, a Swi6-independent heterochromatin function distinct from that at centromeres and the mating-type locus operates at telomeres during sexual differentiation.

scholarly journals The Mating-Type Proteins of Fission Yeast Induce Meiosis by Directly Activating mei3 Transcription

1998 ◽  
Vol 18 (12) ◽  
pp. 7317-7326 ◽  
Author(s):  
Willem J. van Heeckeren ◽  
David R. Dorris ◽  
Kevin Struhl
Keyword(s):  
Fission Yeast ◽  
Mating Type ◽  
Regulatory Element ◽  
Single Gene ◽  
Homeodomain Protein ◽  
Type Locus ◽  
Mating Type Locus ◽  
Positive Elements ◽  
Tata Sequence ◽  
Multiple Sequences

ABSTRACT Cell type control of meiotic gene regulation in the budding yeastSaccharomyces cerevisiae is mediated by a cascade of transcriptional repressors, a1-α2 and Rme1. Here, we investigate the analogous regulatory pathway in the fission yeastSchizosaccharomyces pombe by analyzing the promoter ofmei3, the single gene whose expression is sufficient to trigger meiosis. The mei3 promoter does not appear to contain a negative regulatory element that represses transcription in haploid cells. Instead, correct regulation of mei3transcription depends on a complex promoter that contains at least five positive elements upstream of the TATA sequence. These elements synergistically activate mei3 transcription, thereby constituting an on-off switch for the meiosis pathway. Element C is a large region containing multiple sequences that resemble binding sites for Mc, an HMG domain protein encoded by the mating-type locus. The function of element C is extremely sensitive to spacing changes but not to linker-scanning mutations, suggesting the possibility that Mc functions as an architectural transcription factor. Altered-specificity experiments indicate that element D interacts with Pm, a homeodomain protein encoded by the mating-type locus. This indicates that Pm functions as a direct activator of the meiosis pathway, whereas the homologous mating-type protein in S. cerevisiae (α2) functions as a repressor. Thus, despite the strong similarities between the mating-type loci of S. cerevisiae and S. pombe, the regulatory logic that governs the tight control of the key meiosis-inducing genes in these organisms is completely different.

scholarly journals swi6, a gene required for mating-type switching, prohibits meiotic recombination in the mat2-mat3 "cold spot" of fission yeast.

Genetics ◽  
1991 ◽  
Vol 129 (4) ◽  
pp. 1033-1042
Author(s):  
A J Klar ◽  
M J Bonaduce
Keyword(s):  
Fission Yeast ◽  
Mating Type ◽  
Meiotic Recombination ◽  
Hot Spot ◽  
Strand Break ◽  
Double Strand Break ◽  
Cold Spot ◽  
Additional Result ◽  
Type Locus ◽  
Mating Type Switching

Abstract Mitotic interconversion of the mating-type locus (mat1) of the fission yeast Schizosaccharomyces pombe is initiated by a double-strand break at mat1. The mat2 and mat3 loci act as nonrandom donors of genetic information for mat1 switching such that switches occur primarily (or only) to the opposite mat1 allele. Location of the mat1 "hot spot" for transposition should be contrasted with the "cold spot" of meiotic recombination located within the adjoining mat2-mat3 interval. That is, meiotic interchromosomal recombination in mat2, mat3 and the intervening 15-kilobase region does not occur at all. swi2 and swi6 switching-deficient mutants possess the normal level of double-strand break at mat1, yet they fail to switch efficiently. By testing for meiotic recombination in the cold spot, we found the usual lack of recombination in a swi2 mutant but a significant level of recombination in a swi6 mutant. Therefore, the swi6 gene function is required to keep the donor loci inert for interchromosomal recombination. This finding, combined with the additional result that switching primarily occurs intrachromosomally, suggests that the donor loci are made accessible for switching by folding them onto mat1, thus causing the cold spot of recombination.

scholarly journals INTERCONVERSION OF YEAST MATING TYPES III. ACTION OF THE HOMOTHALLISM (HO) GENE IN CELLS HOMOZYGOUS FOR THE MATING TYPE LOCUS

Genetics ◽  
1977 ◽  
Vol 85 (3) ◽  
pp. 395-405 ◽  
Author(s):  
James B Hicks ◽  
Jeffrey N Strathern ◽  
Ira Herskowitz
Keyword(s):  
Saccharomyces Cerevisiae ◽  
Life Cycle ◽  
Gene Product ◽  
Direct Observation ◽  
Mating Type ◽  
Mating Types ◽  
Type Locus ◽  
Mating Type Locus ◽  
Mating Type Switching ◽  
Ho Gene

ABSTRACT Mating type interconversion in homothallic Saccharomyces cerevisiae has been studied in diploids homozygous for the mating type locus produced by sporulation of a/a/a/α and a/a/α/α tetraploid strains. Mating type switches have been analyzed by techniques including direct observation of cells for changes in α-factor sensitivity. Another method of following mating type switching exploits the observation that a/α cells exhibit polar budding and a/a and α/α cells exhibit medial budding.—These studies indicate the following: (1) The allele conferring the homothallic life cycle (HO) is dominant to the allele conferring the heterothallic life cycle (ho). (2) The action of the HO gene is controlled by the mating type locus—active in a/a and α/α cells but not in a/α cells. (3) The HO (or HO-controlled) gene product can act independently on two mating type alleles located on separate chromosomes in the same nucleus. (4) A switch in mating type is observed in pairs of cells, each of which has the same change.

scholarly journals RNA Interference (RNAi)-Dependent and RNAi-Independent Association of the Chp1 Chromodomain Protein with Distinct Heterochromatic Loci in Fission Yeast

2005 ◽  
Vol 25 (6) ◽  
pp. 2331-2346 ◽  
Author(s):  
Victoria J. Petrie ◽  
Jeffrey D. Wuitschick ◽  
Cheryl D. Givens ◽  
Aaron M. Kosinski ◽  
Janet F. Partridge
Keyword(s):  
Rna Interference ◽  
Fission Yeast ◽  
Mating Type ◽  
Histone H3 ◽  
Protein Component ◽  
Centromeric Heterochromatin ◽  
Rnai Pathway ◽  
Type Locus ◽  
Mating Type Locus ◽  
Terminal Domain

ABSTRACT The establishment of centromeric heterochromatin in the fission yeast Schizosaccharomyces pombe is dependent on the RNA interference (RNAi) pathway. Dicer cleaves centromeric transcripts to produce short interfering RNAs (siRNAs) that actively recruit components of heterochromatin to centromeres. Both centromeric siRNAs and the heterochromatin component Chp1 are components of the RITS (RNA-induced initiation of transcriptional gene silencing) complex, and the association of RITS with centromeres is linked to Dicer activity. In turn, centromeric binding of RITS promotes Clr4-mediated methylation of histone H3 lysine 9 (K9), recruitment of Swi6, and formation of heterochromatin. Similar to centromeres, the mating type locus (Mat) is coated in K9-methylated histone H3 and is bound by Swi6. Here we report that Chp1 associates with the mating type locus and telomeres and that Chp1 localization to heterochromatin depends on its chromodomain and the C-terminal domain of the protein. Another protein component of the RITS complex, Tas3, also binds to Mat and telomeres. Tas3 interacts with Chp1 through the C-terminal domain of Chp1, and this interaction is necessary for Tas3 stability. Interestingly, in cells lacking the Argonaute (Ago1) protein component of the RITS complex, or lacking Dicer (and hence siRNAs), Chp1 and Tas3 can still bind to noncentromeric loci, although their association with centromeres is lost. Thus, Chp1 and Tas3 exist as an Ago1-independent subcomplex that associates with noncentromeric heterochromatin independently of the RNAi pathway.

scholarly journals Identification of a protein that binds to the Ho endonuclease recognition sequence at the yeast mating type locus.

1997 ◽  
Vol 17 (2) ◽  
pp. 770-777 ◽  
Author(s):  
R Wang ◽  
Y Jin ◽  
D Norris
Keyword(s):  
Mating Type ◽  
Recognition Sequence ◽  
Mobility Shift ◽  
Vitro Assay ◽  
Type Locus ◽  
Mating Type Locus ◽  
Yeast Mating ◽  
Mating Type Switching

Mating type switching in Saccharomyces cerevisiae initiates when Ho endonuclease makes a site-specific double-stranded break at MAT, the yeast mating type locus. To identify other proteins involved in this process, we examined whether extracts prepared from ho- mutants contain additional factors that bind near the recognition sequence for Ho. Using an electrophoretic mobility shift assay, we isolated a chromatographic fraction that contains an activity, named YZbp, which binds to two sequences flanking the recognition sequence at MATalpha and to one sequence overlapping it at MATa. MAT plasmids carrying mutations in the YZbp recognition sequence are cleaved by purified Ho at wild-type efficiencies in an in vitro assay. These same plasmids, however, are not cleaved by Ho inside cells, demonstrating that YZbp acts as a positive activator of in vivo cleavage. YZbp is present in all cell types, even those not undergoing mating type switching, suggesting that it has additional cellular functions.

Sign in / Sign up

Export Citation Format

Share Document