The JIL-1 Kinase Affects Telomere Expression in the Different Telomere Domains of Drosophila

In Drosophila, the non-LTR retrotransposons HeT-A, TART and TAHRE build a head-to-tail array of repetitions that constitute the telomere domain by targeted transposition at the end of the chromosome whenever needed. As a consequence, Drosophila telomeres have the peculiarity to harbor the genes in charge of telomere elongation. Understanding telomere expression is important in Drosophila since telomere homeostasis depends in part on the expression of this genomic compartment. We have recently shown that the essential kinase JIL-1 is the first positive regulator of the telomere retrotransposons. JIL-1 mediates chromatin changes at the promoter of the HeT-A retrotransposon that are necessary to obtain wild type levels of expression of these telomere transposons. With the present study, we show how JIL-1 is also needed for the expression of a reporter gene embedded in the telomere domain. Our analysis, using different reporter lines from the telomere and subtelomere domains of different chromosomes, indicates that JIL-1 likely acts protecting the telomere domain from the spreading of repressive chromatin from the adjacent subtelomere domain. Moreover, the analysis of the 4R telomere suggests a slightly different chromatin structure at this telomere. In summary, our results strongly suggest that the action of JIL-1 depends on which telomere domain, which chromosome and which promoter is embedded in the telomere chromatin.     

Specific Localization of the Drosophila Telomere Transposon Proteins and RNAs,Give Insight in Their Behavior,Control and Telomere Biology in This Organism

Drosophila telomeres constitute a remarkable exception to the telomerase mechanism. Although maintaining the same cytological and functional properties as telomerase maintain telomeres, Drosophila telomeres embed the telomere retrotransposons whose specific and highly regulated terminal transposition maintains the appropriate telomere length in this organism. Nevertheless, our current understanding of how the mechanism of the retrotransposon telomere works and which features are shared with the telomerase system is very limited. We report for the first time a detailed study of the localization of the main components that constitute the telomeres in Drosophila, HeT-A and TART RNAs and proteins. Our results in wild type and mutant strains reveal localizations of HeT-A Gag and TART Pol that give insight in the behavior of the telomere retrotransposons and their control. We find that TART Pol and HeT-A Gag only co-localize at the telomeres during the interphase of cells undergoing mitotic cycles. In addition, unexpected protein and RNA localizations with a well-defined pattern in cells such as the ovarian border cells and nurse cells, suggest possible strategies for the telomere transposons to reach the oocyte, and/or additional functions that might be important for the correct development of the organism. Finally, we have been able to visualize the telomere RNAs at different ovarian stages of development in wild type and mutant lines, demonstrating their presence in spite of being tightly regulated by the piRNA mechanism.     

The Analysis of Pendolino (peo) Mutants Reveals Differences in the Fusigenic Potential among Drosophila Telomeres

Drosophila telomeres are sequence-independent structures that are maintained by transposition to chromosome ends of three specialized retroelements (HeT-A, TART and TAHRE; collectively designated as HTT) rather than telomerase activity. Fly telomeres are protected by the terminin complex (HOAP-HipHop-Moi-Ver) that localizes and functions exclusively at telomeres and by non-terminin proteins that do not serve telomere-specific functions. Although all Drosophila telomeres terminate with HTT arrays and are capped by terminin, they differ in the type of subtelomeric chromatin; the Y, XR, and 4L HTT are juxtaposed to constitutive heterochromatin, while the XL, 2L, 2R, 3L and 3R HTT are linked to the TAS repetitive sequences; the 4R HTT is associated with a chromatin that has features common to both euchromatin and heterochromatin. Here we show that mutations in pendolino (peo) cause telomeric fusions (TFs). The analysis of several peo mutant combinations showed that these TFs preferentially involve the Y, XR and 4th chromosome telomeres, a TF pattern never observed in the other 10 telomere-capping mutants so far characterized. peo encodes a non-terminin protein homologous to the E2 variant ubiquitin-conjugating enzymes. The Peo protein directly interacts with the terminin components, but peo mutations do not affect telomeric localization of HOAP, Moi, Ver and HP1a, suggesting that the peo-dependent telomere fusion phenotype is not due to loss of terminin from chromosome ends. peo mutants are also defective in DNA replication and PCNA recruitment. However, our results suggest that general defects in DNA replication are unable to induce TFs in Drosophila cells. We thus hypothesize that DNA replication in Peo-depleted cells results in specific fusigenic lesions concentrated in heterochromatin-associated telomeres. Alternatively, it is possible that Peo plays a dual function being independently required for DNA replication and telomere capping.     

The role of HeT-A and TART retrotransposons in Drosophila telomere capping

Drosophila telomeres contain multiple copies of HeT-A and TART retrotransposons. These elements specifically transpose to chromosomal ends, compensating for loss of terminal nucleotides that occurs at each cycle of DNA replication. We have investigated the role of these sequences in the formation of telomere–telomere attachments induced by mutations in the UbcD1 gene. We have constructed UbcD1 mutant males carrying terminally deleted X chromosomes devoid of both HeT-A and TART sequences. Cytological analysis of larval neuroblasts from these males revealed that telomeres lacking HeT-A and TART and normal telomeres that contain these sequences participate in telomeric fusions with comparable frequencies. These results indicate that the UbcD1 substrate(s) binds chromosomal termini in a sequence-independent manner. Previous studies have shown that the telomere-capping protein HP1 also binds telomeres lacking HeT-A and TART. Taken together, these findings strongly suggest that the assembly of DNA–protein complexes that protect chromosome ends from fusions do not require specific terminal sequences.     

Heterochromatin protein 1 is involved in control of telomere elongation in Drosophila melanogaster

Telomeres of Drosophila melanogaster contain arrays of the retrotransposon-like elements HeT-A and TART. Their transposition to broken chromosome ends has been implicated in chromosome healing and telomere elongation. We have developed a genetic system which enables the determination of the frequency of telomere elongation events and their mechanism. The frequency differs among lines with different genotypes, suggesting that several genes are in control. Here we show that the Su(var)2-5 gene encoding heterochromatin protein 1 (HP1) is involved in regulation of telomere length. Different Su(var)2-5 mutations in the heterozygous state increase the frequency of HeT-A and TART attachment to the broken chromosome end by more than a hundred times. The attachment occurs through either HeT-A/TART transposition or recombination with other telomeres. Terminal DNA elongation by gene conversion is greatly enhanced by Su(var)2-5 mutations only if the template for DNA synthesis is on the same chromosome but not on the homologous chromosome. The Drosophila lines bearing the Su(var)2-5 mutations maintain extremely long telomeres consisting of HeT-A and TART for many generations. Thus, HP1 plays an important role in the control of telomere elongation in D. melanogaster.     

The genomic organization of HeT-A retroposons inDrosophila melanogaster

Members of theDrosophila HeT-A family of transposable elements are LINE-like retroposons that are found at telomeres and in centric heterochromatin. We recently characterized an active HeT-A element that had transposed to a broken chromosome end fewer than mine generations before it was isolated. The sequence arerangement of this element, called 9D4, most likely represents the organization of an actively transposing member of the HeT-A family. Here we assess the degree of divergence among members of the HeT-A family and test a model of telomere length maintenance based on HeT-A transposition. The region containing the single open reading frame of this element appears to be more highly conserved than the non-coding regions. The HeT-A element has been implicated in theDrosophila telomere elongation process, because frequent transpositions to chromosome ends are sufficient to counter-balance nucleotide loss due to incomplete DNA replication. The proposed elongation model and the hypothetical mechanism of HeT-A transposition predict a predominant orientation of HeT-A elements with their oligo (A) tails facing proximally at chromosome ends, as well as the existence of irregular tandem arrays of HeT-A elements at chromosome ends resulting from transposition of new HeT-A elements onto chromosome ends with existing elements. Twenty-nine different HeT-A fragments were isolated from directional libraries that were enriched in terminal DNA fragments. Sequence analyses of these fragments and comparisons with the organization of the HeT-A element, 9D4, fit these two predictions and support the model ofDrosophila telomere elongation by transposition of HeT-A elements.     

The mechanism of telomere protection: a comparison between Drosophila and humans

Drosophila telomeres are maintained by transposition of specialized retrotransposons rather than by telomerase activity, and their stability is independent of the sequence of DNA termini. Recent studies have identified several proteins that protect Drosophila telomeres from fusion events. These proteins include the telomere capping factors HP1/ORC-associated protein (HOAP) and heterochromatin protein 1 (HP1), the Rad50 and Mre11 DNA repair proteins that are required for HOAP and HP1 localization at telomeres, and the ATM kinase. Another telomere-protecting factor identified in Drosophila is UbcD1, a polypeptide highly homologous to class I ubiquitin-conjugating E2 enzymes. In addition, it has been shown that HP1 and both components of the Drosophila Ku70/80 heterodimer act as negative regulators of telomere length. Except for HOAP, all these proteins are conserved in humans and are associated with human telomeres. Collectively, these results indicate that Drosophila is an excellent model system for the analysis of the mechanisms of telomere maintenance. In past and current studies, 15 Drosophila genes have been identified that prevent telomeric fusion, and it has been estimated that the Drosophila genome contains at least 40 genes required for telomere protection. We believe that the molecular characterization of these genes will lead to identification of many novel human genes with roles in telomere maintenance.     

The JIL-1 kinase regulates the structure of Drosophila polytene chromosomes

The JIL-1 kinase localizes to interband regions of Drosophila polytene chromosomes and phosphorylates histone H3 Ser10. Analysis of JIL-1 hypomorphic alleles demonstrated that reduced levels of JIL-1 protein lead to global changes in polytene chromatin structure. Here we have performed a detailed ultrastructural and cytological analysis of the defects in JIL-1 mutant chromosomes. We show that all autosomes and the female X chromosome are similarly affected, whereas the defects in the male X chromosome are qualitatively different. In polytene autosomes, loss of JIL-1 leads to misalignment of interband chromatin fibrils and to increased ectopic contacts between nonhomologous regions. Furthermore, there is an abnormal coiling of the chromosomes with an intermixing of euchromatic regions and the compacted chromatin characteristic of banded regions. In contrast, coiling of the male X polytene chromosome was not observed. Instead, the shortening of the male X chromosome appeared to be caused by increased dispersal of the chromatin into a diffuse network without any discernable banded regions. To account for the observed phenotypes we propose a model in which JIL-1 functions to establish or maintain the parallel alignment of interband chromosome fibrils as well as to repress the formation of contacts and intermingling of nonhomologous chromatid regions. Electronic Supplementary Material Supplementary material is available for this article at and accessible for authorised users     

Domain Requirements of the JIL-1 Tandem Kinase for Histone H3 Serine 10 Phosphorylation and Chromatin Remodeling in Vivo

The JIL-1 kinase localizes to Drosophila polytene chromosome interbands and phosphorylates histone H3 at interphase, counteracting histone H3 lysine 9 dimethylation and gene silencing. JIL-1 can be divided into four main domains, including an NH₂-terminal domain, two separate kinase domains, and a COOH-terminal domain. In this study, we characterize the domain requirements of the JIL-1 kinase for histone H3 serine 10 (H3S10) phosphorylation and chromatin remodeling in vivo. We show that a JIL-1 construct without the NH₂-terminal domain is without H3S10 phosphorylation activity despite the fact that it localizes properly to polytene interband regions and that it contains both kinase domains. JIL-1 is a double kinase, and we demonstrate that both kinase domains of JIL-1 are required to be catalytically active for H3S10 phosphorylation to occur. Furthermore, we provide evidence that JIL-1 is phosphorylated at serine 424 and that this phosphorylation is necessary for JIL-1 H3S10 phosphorylation activity. Thus, these data are compatible with a model where the NH₂-terminal domain of JIL-1 is required for chromatin complex interactions that position the kinase domain(s) for catalytic activity in the context of the state of higher order nucleosome packaging and chromatin structure and where catalytic H3S10 phosphorylation activity mediated by the first kinase domain is dependent on autophosphorylation of serine 424 by the second kinase domain. Furthermore, using a lacO repeat tethering system to target mutated JIL-1 constructs with or without catalytic activity, we show that the epigenetic H3S10 phosphorylation mark itself functions as a causative regulator of chromatin structure independently of any structural contributions from the JIL-1 protein.     

Epigenetic telomere protection by Drosophila DNA damage response pathways

Analysis of terminal deletion chromosomes indicates that a sequence-independent mechanism regulates protection of Drosophila telomeres. Mutations in Drosophila DNA damage response genes such as atm/tefu, mre11, or rad50 disrupt telomere protection and localization of the telomere-associated proteins HP1 and HOAP, suggesting that recognition of chromosome ends contributes to telomere protection. However, the partial telomere protection phenotype of these mutations limits the ability to test if they act in the epigenetic telomere protection mechanism. We examined the roles of the Drosophila atm and atr-atrip DNA damage response pathways and the nbs homolog in DNA damage responses and telomere protection. As in other organisms, the atm and atr-atrip pathways act in parallel to promote telomere protection. Cells lacking both pathways exhibit severe defects in telomere protection and fail to localize the protection protein HOAP to telomeres. Drosophila nbs is required for both atm- and atr-dependent DNA damage responses and acts in these pathways during DNA repair. The telomere fusion phenotype of nbs is consistent with defects in each of these activities. Cells defective in both the atm and atr pathways were used to examine if DNA damage response pathways regulate telomere protection without affecting telomere specific sequences. In these cells, chromosome fusion sites retain telomere-specific sequences, demonstrating that loss of these sequences is not responsible for loss of protection. Furthermore, terminally deleted chromosomes also fuse in these cells, directly implicating DNA damage response pathways in the epigenetic protection of telomeres. We propose that recognition of chromosome ends and recruitment of HP1 and HOAP by DNA damage response proteins is essential for the epigenetic protection of Drosophila telomeres. Given the conserved roles of DNA damage response proteins in telomere function, related mechanisms may act at the telomeres of other organisms.