Work

Ku is associated with the telomere in mammals

Year: 1999

Type: article

Abstract: Telomeres are specialized DNA/protein complexes that comprise the ends of eukaryotic chromosomes. The highly expressed Ku heterodimer, composed of 70 and 80 K(d) subunits (Ku70 and Ku80), is the high-affinity DNA binding component of the DNA-dependent protein kinase. Ku is critical for nonhomologous DNA double-stranded break repair and site-specific recombination of V(D)J gene segments. Ku also plays an important role in telomere maintenance in yeast. Herein, we report, using an in vivo crosslinking method, that human and hamster telomeric DNAs specifically coimmunoprecipitate with human Ku80 after crosslinking. Localization of Ku to the telomere does not depend on the DNA-dependent protein kinase catalytic component. These findings suggest a direct link between Ku and the telomere in mammalian cells.

Source: Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences

DOI: 10.1073/pnas.96.22.12454

Authors: Hsin-Ling Hsu, David Gilley, Elizabeth H. Blackburn, David J. Chen

Institutions: Los Alamos National Laboratory, Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory, University of California, San Francisco, University of California, Berkeley

Language: English

Topic: Telomeres, Telomerase, and Senescence

Subfield: Cell Biology

Field: Biochemistry, Genetics and Molecular Biology

Domain: Life Sciences

Open Access status: green

Funders: U.S. Department of Energy, National Institutes of Health, National Cancer Institute, National Institute of General Medical Sciences