Human telomerase RNA accumulation in cajal bodies facilitates telomerase recruitment to telomeres and telomere elongation

Telomerase is required for telomere maintenance and is responsible for the immortal phenotype of cancer cells. How telomerase is assembled and reaches telomeres in the context of nuclear architecture is not understood. Recently, the telomerase RNA subunit (hTR) was shown to accumulate in Cajal bodies (CBs), subnuclear structures implicated in ribonucleoprotein maturation. However, the functional relevance of this localization for telomerase was unknown. hTR localization to CBs requires a short sequence motif called the CAB box. Here, we reconstitute telomerase in human cells and determine the effects of CAB box mutations on telomere biology. We demonstrate that mutant hTR, which fails to accumulate in CBs, is fully capable of forming catalytically active telomerase in vivo but is strongly impaired in telomere extension. The functional deficiency is accompanied by a decreased association of telomerase with telomeres. Collectively, these data identify subnuclear localization as an important regulatory mechanism for telomere length homeostasis in human cells.

A three-state model for the regulation of telomerase by TERRA and hnRNPA1

Joachim Lingner, Sophie Redon, Ivo Zemp

Telomeres, the physical ends of eukaryotic chromosomes, are transcribed into telomeric repeat-containing RNA (TERRA), a large non-coding RNA, which forms an integral part of telomeric heterochromatin. In vitro, naked TERRA molecules are efficient inhibitors of human telomerase, base-pairing via their 5'-UUAGGG-3' repeats with the template sequence of telomerase RNA, in addition to contacting the telomerase reverse transcriptase protein subunit. In vivo, however, TERRA-mediated inhibition of telomerase can be prevented by unknown mechanisms. Also, heterogeneous nuclear ribonucleoprotein A1 (hnRNPA1) has been implicated in telomere length control. In vivo, TERRA is partially associated with hnRNPA1, and hnRNPA1 is also detected at telomeres. We demonstrate that on binding of TERRA, hnRNPA1 can alleviate the TERRA-mediated inhibition of telomerase. However, when in excess over TERRA, hnRNPA1 becomes itself an inhibitor of telomere extension, on binding of the telomeric DNA substrate. Yet, hnRNPA1 has no notable direct effects on the telomerase catalysis. Our in vitro results suggest that TERRA-mediated telomerase inhibition may be prevented by hnRNPA1 in vivo. Telomere extension by telomerase may require balanced levels of TERRA and hnRNPA1 at telomeres. Thus, TERRA and hnRNPA1 can function as a bimolecular regulator to turn telomerase and the telomere on and off.

Oxford University Press2013

The telomeric DNA damage response: Insights into telomere compaction and identification of novel damage signaling factors

Aleksandra Vancevska

Telomeres are dynamic nucleo-protein structures capping the ends of all eukaryotic chromosomes. Together with telomerase, they counteract replication-dependent telomere attrition. Additionally, they disguise the linear ends of the chromosome from the DNA damage response (DDR) machinery. Otherwise, the chromosome end would be recognized as a DSB and would elicit a deleterious DDR signal. Both of these functions contribute greatly to the maintenance of genome stability. Telomeres are composed of repetitive DNA sequences, protein complex dubbed shelterin and telomeric repeat-containing RNAs. In addition to the core protein complex, other proteins are important for proper telomere structure and function. Our laboratory has a longstanding interest in the discovery of novel factors that have indispensable roles in telomere biology. For that purpose, previous lab members developed a Quantitative Telomeric Chromatin Isolation protocol (QTIP) and detected binding of new proteins to long telomeres, SMCHD1 and LRIF1. Their function at telomeres is not described but they are shown to function in higher-order chromatin organization and genome-wide DDR. Understanding their role in telomere biology is important because the list of players involved in DDR at telomeres is far from complete and we know very little about how chromatin structure affects DDR activation. Thus, this thesis provides insights into the DDR at telomeres by studying the functions of SMCHD1 and LRIF1 and describes the implementation of a novel microscopy-based method to study the role of these proteins and shelterins in early steps of the DDR. Firstly, we describe crucial roles for SMCHD1 and LRIF1 in DDR activation at telomeres lacking shelterin protein TRF2. Removal of TRF2 leads to activation of the ATM kinase and elicits a DDR giving rise to persistent chromosome fusions. We show that LRIF1 and SMCHD1 removal leads to attenuation of ATM activation and subsequent DDR defect as well as impairment in non-homologous end joining (NHEJ) at unprotected telomeres. Considering that these phenotypes are rescued by removal of TPP1 and activation of the ATR kinase we propose that these proteins mainly participate in DDR signaling operating at uncapped telomeres. They are among the rare ones described to act early in the DDR cascade upon TRF2 removal. Stimulated by the discovery that SMCHD1 and LRIF1 function in X-chromosome compaction, we sought to test if they would function in remodeling telomeric chromatin. To do that, we have implemented super-resolution microscopy method (STORM) to measure sizes and shapes of normal human telomeres and ones lacking SMCHD, LRIF1, and shelterin. We have shown, by examination of thousands of telomeres, that removal of shelterin proteins leads to decompaction of only a small subset of telomeres. This decompaction is not required for efficient DDR activation, as the DDR was also efficiently elicited from compacted TRF2-depleted telomeres. Thus, we propose that DDR is triggered by changes at the molecular level in protein recruitment upon telomere deprotec-tion. In addition, transient removal of SMCHD1 and LRIF1 did not affect the compaction state of telo-meres as they do in the X-chromosome. Overall, we have described two novel factors that are important for DDR at uncapped telomeres and excluded the need for decompaction as the initial step of DDR at uncapped telomeres and excluded the need for decompaction as the initial step of DDR activation.

EPFL2018

The telomeric DNA damage response: Insights into telomere compaction and identification of novel damage signaling factors

Aleksandra Vancevska

EPFL2018