A novel type of silencing factor, Clr2, is necessary for transcriptional silencing at various chromosomal locations in the fission yeast Schizosaccharomyces pombe

TY - JOUR

T1 - A novel type of silencing factor, Clr2, is necessary for transcriptional silencing at various chromosomal locations in the fission yeast Schizosaccharomyces pombe

AU - Bjerling, Pernilla

AU - Ekwall, Karl

AU - Egel, Richard

AU - Thon, Genevieve

N1 - Keywords: Acetylation; Chromosomes, Fungal; Cloning, Molecular; Gene Expression Regulation, Fungal; Gene Silencing; Genes, Fungal; Genes, Mating Type, Fungal; Histones; Molecular Sequence Data; Mutation; Repressor Proteins; Schizosaccharomyces; Schizosaccharomyces pombe Proteins; Sequence Deletion; Transcription Factors; Transcription, Genetic

PY - 2004

Y1 - 2004

N2 - The mating-type region of the fission yeast Schizosaccharomyces pombe comprises three loci: mat1, mat2-P and mat3-M. mat1 is expressed and determines the mating type of the cell. mat2-P and mat3-M are two storage cassettes located in a 17 kb heterochromatic region with features identical to those of mammalian heterochromatin. Mutations in the swi6+, clr1+, clr2+, clr3+, clr4+ and clr6+ genes were obtained in screens for factors necessary for silencing the mat2-P-mat3-M region. swi6+ encodes a chromodomain protein, clr3+ and clr6+ histone deacetylases, and clr4+ a histone methyltransferase. Here, we describe the cloning and characterization of clr2+. The clr2+ gene encodes a 62 kDa protein with no obvious sequence homologs. Deletion of clr2+ not only affects transcriptional repression in the mating-type region, but also centromeric silencing and silencing of a PolII-transcribed gene inserted in the rDNA repeats. Using chromatin immunoprecipitation, we show that Clr2 is necessary for histone hypoacetylation in the mating-type region, suggesting that Clr2 acts upstream of histone deacetylases to promote transcriptional silencing.

AB - The mating-type region of the fission yeast Schizosaccharomyces pombe comprises three loci: mat1, mat2-P and mat3-M. mat1 is expressed and determines the mating type of the cell. mat2-P and mat3-M are two storage cassettes located in a 17 kb heterochromatic region with features identical to those of mammalian heterochromatin. Mutations in the swi6+, clr1+, clr2+, clr3+, clr4+ and clr6+ genes were obtained in screens for factors necessary for silencing the mat2-P-mat3-M region. swi6+ encodes a chromodomain protein, clr3+ and clr6+ histone deacetylases, and clr4+ a histone methyltransferase. Here, we describe the cloning and characterization of clr2+. The clr2+ gene encodes a 62 kDa protein with no obvious sequence homologs. Deletion of clr2+ not only affects transcriptional repression in the mating-type region, but also centromeric silencing and silencing of a PolII-transcribed gene inserted in the rDNA repeats. Using chromatin immunoprecipitation, we show that Clr2 is necessary for histone hypoacetylation in the mating-type region, suggesting that Clr2 acts upstream of histone deacetylases to promote transcriptional silencing.

U2 - 10.1093/nar/gkh780

DO - 10.1093/nar/gkh780

M3 - Journal article

C2 - 15317867

SN - 0305-1048

VL - 32

SP - 4421

EP - 4428

JO - Nucleic Acids Research

JF - Nucleic Acids Research

IS - 15

ER -