Drosophila telomeres: A variation on the telomerase theme
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FLY2(3)-2008.pdf
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1.65 MB
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Author(s)
Pardue, Mary-Lou
DeBaryshe, P. G.
Date Issued
May 2008
Journal
Fly
Publisher
Landes Bioscience
Citation
Pardue, Mary-Lou and P. Gregory DeBaryshe. "Drosophila telomeres: A variation on the telomerase theme." Fly 2.3 (2008): 101-110.
Version
Author's final manuscript
Abstract
In Drosophila, the role of telomerase is carried out by three specialized retrotransposable
elements, HeT-A, TART, and TAHRE. Telomeres contain long tandem head-to-tail arrays of these
elements. Within each array, the three elements occur in random, but polarized, order. Some are
truncated at the 5’ end, giving the telomere an enriched content of the large 3’ untranslated regions which distinguish these telomeric elements from other retrotransposons. Thus, Drosophila telomeres resemble other telomeres because they are long arrays of repeated sequences, albeit more irregular arrays than those produced by telomerase. The telomeric retrotransposons are reverse-transcribed directly onto the end of the chromosome, extending the end by successive transpositions. Their transposition uses exactly the same method by which telomerase extends chromosome ends - copying an RNA template. In addition to these similarities in structure and maintenance, Drosophila telomeres have strong functional similarities to other telomeres, and, as variants, provide an important model for understanding general principles of telomere function and evolution.
MIT Department
Massachusetts Institute of Technology. Department of Biology
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DOI of Published Version
http://www.landesbioscience.com/journals/fly/article/6393
