A Mutation in the STN1 Gene Triggers an Alternative Lengthening of Telomere-Like Runaway Recombinational Telomere Elongation and Rapid Deletion in Yeast

Abstract

Some human cancer cells achieve immortalization by using a recombinational mechanism termed ALT (alternative lengthening of telomeres). A characteristic feature of ALT cells is the presence of extremely long and heterogeneous telomeres. The molecular mechanism triggering and maintaining this pathway is currently unknown. In Kluyveromyces lactis, we have identified a novel allele of the STN1 gene that produces a runaway ALT-like telomeric phenotype by recombination despite the presence of an active telomerase pathway. Additionally, stn1-M1 cells are synthetically lethal in combination with rad52 and display chronic growth and telomere capping defects including extensive 3′ single-stranded telomere DNA and highly elevated subtelomere gene conversion. Strikingly, stn1-M1 cells undergo a very high rate of telomere rapid deletion (TRD) upon reintroduction of STN1. Our results suggest that the protein encoded by STN1, which protects the terminal 3′ telomere DNA, can regulate both ALT and TRD.

ACKNOWLEDGMENTS

We thank Joris Heus for the gift of the K. lactis library plasmid. We also thank Dana Underwood, MGIF, Nicole Fitzpatrick, and Travis Duckworth for their assistance in the TER1-20C (ApaL) strain construction, gene sequencing, EMS screen, and the subtelomere gene conversion assay.

This work was supported by grant from the National Institute of Health (GM 61645-01).