Skip to main content
PMC home page
Molecular and Cellular Biology logoLink to Molecular and Cellular Biology
. 1989 Jan;9(1):345–348. doi: 10.1128/mcb.9.1.345

An overhanging 3' terminus is a conserved feature of telomeres.

E R Henderson 1, E H Blackburn 1
PMCID: PMC362181  PMID: 2927395

Abstract

The reactivity of single-stranded thymidines with osmium tetraoxide was used to demonstrate the existence of a terminal overhang of the G-rich strand of telomeres from two distantly related eucaryotes, the ciliated protozoan Tetrahymena spp. and the acellular slime mold Didymium spp. Conservation of a G-strand overhang at the molecular terminus of telomeres is consistent with our suggestion that an unusual DNA structure formed by the G-strand overhang is important for telomere function (E. Henderson, C. C. Hardin, S. K. Wolk, I. Tinoco Jr., and E. H. Blackburn, Cell 51:899-908, 1987).

Full text

PDF
345

Images in this article

346Image
on p.346
346Image
on p.346
347Image
on p.347

Selected References

These references are in PubMed. This may not be the complete list of references from this article.

  1. Berman J., Tachibana C. Y., Tye B. K. Identification of a telomere-binding activity from yeast. Proc Natl Acad Sci U S A. 1986 Jun;83(11):3713–3717. doi: 10.1073/pnas.83.11.3713. [DOI] [PMC free article] [PubMed] [Google Scholar]
  2. Bernards A., Michels P. A., Lincke C. R., Borst P. Growth of chromosome ends in multiplying trypanosomes. Nature. 1983 Jun 16;303(5918):592–597. doi: 10.1038/303592a0. [DOI] [PubMed] [Google Scholar]
  3. Blackburn E. H., Budarf M. L., Challoner P. B., Cherry J. M., Howard E. A., Katzen A. L., Pan W. C., Ryan T. DNA termini in ciliate macronuclei. Cold Spring Harb Symp Quant Biol. 1983;47(Pt 2):1195–1207. doi: 10.1101/sqb.1983.047.01.135. [DOI] [PubMed] [Google Scholar]
  4. Blackburn E. H., Chiou S. S. Non-nucleosomal packaging of a tandemly repeated DNA sequence at termini of extrachromosomal DNA coding for rRNA in Tetrahymena. Proc Natl Acad Sci U S A. 1981 Apr;78(4):2263–2267. doi: 10.1073/pnas.78.4.2263. [DOI] [PMC free article] [PubMed] [Google Scholar]
  5. Blackburn E. H., Gall J. G. A tandemly repeated sequence at the termini of the extrachromosomal ribosomal RNA genes in Tetrahymena. J Mol Biol. 1978 Mar 25;120(1):33–53. doi: 10.1016/0022-2836(78)90294-2. [DOI] [PubMed] [Google Scholar]
  6. Blackburn E. H. The molecular structure of centromeres and telomeres. Annu Rev Biochem. 1984;53:163–194. doi: 10.1146/annurev.bi.53.070184.001115. [DOI] [PubMed] [Google Scholar]
  7. Budarf M., Blackburn E. S1 nuclease sensitivity of a double-stranded telomeric DNA sequence. Nucleic Acids Res. 1987 Aug 11;15(15):6273–6292. doi: 10.1093/nar/15.15.6273. [DOI] [PMC free article] [PubMed] [Google Scholar]
  8. Cech T. R., Karrer K. M. Chromatin structure of the ribosomal RNA genes of Tetrahymena thermophila as analyzed by trimethylpsoralen crosslinking in vivo. J Mol Biol. 1980 Feb 5;136(4):395–416. doi: 10.1016/0022-2836(80)90397-6. [DOI] [PubMed] [Google Scholar]
  9. Forney J., Henderson E. R., Blackburn E. H. Identification of the telomeric sequence of the acellular slime molds Didymium iridis and Physarum polycephalum. Nucleic Acids Res. 1987 Nov 25;15(22):9143–9152. doi: 10.1093/nar/15.22.9143. [DOI] [PMC free article] [PubMed] [Google Scholar]
  10. Friedmann T., Brown D. M. Base-specific reactions useful for DNA sequencing: methylene blue--sensitized photooxidation of guanine and osmium tetraoxide modification of thymine. Nucleic Acids Res. 1978 Feb;5(2):615–622. doi: 10.1093/nar/5.2.615. [DOI] [PMC free article] [PubMed] [Google Scholar]
  11. Gottschling D. E., Cech T. R. Chromatin structure of the molecular ends of Oxytricha macronuclear DNA: phased nucleosomes and a telomeric complex. Cell. 1984 Sep;38(2):501–510. doi: 10.1016/0092-8674(84)90505-1. [DOI] [PubMed] [Google Scholar]
  12. Gottschling D. E., Zakian V. A. Telomere proteins: specific recognition and protection of the natural termini of Oxytricha macronuclear DNA. Cell. 1986 Oct 24;47(2):195–205. doi: 10.1016/0092-8674(86)90442-3. [DOI] [PubMed] [Google Scholar]
  13. Greider C. W., Blackburn E. H. Identification of a specific telomere terminal transferase activity in Tetrahymena extracts. Cell. 1985 Dec;43(2 Pt 1):405–413. doi: 10.1016/0092-8674(85)90170-9. [DOI] [PubMed] [Google Scholar]
  14. Greider C. W., Blackburn E. H. The telomere terminal transferase of Tetrahymena is a ribonucleoprotein enzyme with two kinds of primer specificity. Cell. 1987 Dec 24;51(6):887–898. doi: 10.1016/0092-8674(87)90576-9. [DOI] [PubMed] [Google Scholar]
  15. Henderson E., Hardin C. C., Walk S. K., Tinoco I., Jr, Blackburn E. H. Telomeric DNA oligonucleotides form novel intramolecular structures containing guanine-guanine base pairs. Cell. 1987 Dec 24;51(6):899–908. doi: 10.1016/0092-8674(87)90577-0. [DOI] [PubMed] [Google Scholar]
  16. Hunter W. N., Brown T., Anand N. N., Kennard O. Structure of an adenine-cytosine base pair in DNA and its implications for mismatch repair. Nature. 1986 Apr 10;320(6062):552–555. doi: 10.1038/320552a0. [DOI] [PubMed] [Google Scholar]
  17. INMAN R. B. TRANSITIONS OF DNA HOMOPOLYMERS. J Mol Biol. 1964 Sep;9:624–637. doi: 10.1016/s0022-2836(64)80171-6. [DOI] [PubMed] [Google Scholar]
  18. Larson D. D., Spangler E. A., Blackburn E. H. Dynamics of telomere length variation in Tetrahymena thermophila. Cell. 1987 Jul 31;50(3):477–483. doi: 10.1016/0092-8674(87)90501-0. [DOI] [PubMed] [Google Scholar]
  19. Maxam A. M., Gilbert W. Sequencing end-labeled DNA with base-specific chemical cleavages. Methods Enzymol. 1980;65(1):499–560. doi: 10.1016/s0076-6879(80)65059-9. [DOI] [PubMed] [Google Scholar]
  20. Pluta A. F., Kaine B. P., Spear B. B. The terminal organization of macronuclear DNA in Oxytricha fallax. Nucleic Acids Res. 1982 Dec 20;10(24):8145–8154. doi: 10.1093/nar/10.24.8145. [DOI] [PMC free article] [PubMed] [Google Scholar]
  21. Price C. M., Cech T. R. Telomeric DNA-protein interactions of Oxytricha macronuclear DNA. Genes Dev. 1987 Oct;1(8):783–793. doi: 10.1101/gad.1.8.783. [DOI] [PubMed] [Google Scholar]
  22. Shampay J., Blackburn E. H. Generation of telomere-length heterogeneity in Saccharomyces cerevisiae. Proc Natl Acad Sci U S A. 1988 Jan;85(2):534–538. doi: 10.1073/pnas.85.2.534. [DOI] [PMC free article] [PubMed] [Google Scholar]
  23. Watson J. D. Origin of concatemeric T7 DNA. Nat New Biol. 1972 Oct 18;239(94):197–201. doi: 10.1038/newbio239197a0. [DOI] [PubMed] [Google Scholar]

Articles from Molecular and Cellular Biology are provided here courtesy of Taylor & Francis

RESOURCES