Abstract

Telomeres form the ends of linear chromosomes and usually comprise protein complexes that bind to simple repeated sequence motifs that are added to the 3′ ends of DNA by the telomerase reverse transcriptase (TERT). One of the primary functions attributed to telomeres is to solve the “end-replication problem” which, if left unaddressed, would cause gradual, inexorable attrition of sequences from the chromosome ends and, eventually, loss of viability. Telomere-binding proteins also protect the chromosome from 5′ to 3′ exonuclease action, and disguise the chromosome ends from the double-strand break repair machinery whose illegitimate action potentially generates catastrophic chromosome aberrations. Telomeres are of special interest in the blast fungus, Pyricularia, because the adjacent regions are enriched in genes controlling interactions with host plants, and the chromosome ends show enhanced polymorphism and genetic instability. Previously, we showed that telomere instability in some P. oryzae strains is caused by novel retrotransposons (MoTeRs) that insert in telomere repeats, generating interstitial telomere sequences that drive frequent, break-induced rearrangements. Here, we sought to gain further insight on telomeric involvement in shaping Pyricularia genome architecture by characterizing sequence polymorphisms at chromosome ends, and surrounding internalized MoTeR loci (relics) and interstitial telomere repeats. This provided evidence that telomere dynamics have played historical, and likely ongoing, roles in shaping the Pyricularia genome. We further demonstrate that even telomeres lacking MoTeR insertions are poorly preserved, such that the telomere-adjacent sequences exhibit frequent presence/absence polymorphism, as well as exchanges with the genome interior. Using TERT knockout experiments, we characterized chromosomal responses to failed telomere maintenance which suggested that much of the MoTeR relic-/interstitial telomere-associated polymorphism could be driven by compromised telomere function. Finally, we describe three possible examples of a phenomenon known as “Adaptive Telomere Failure,” where spontaneous losses of telomere maintenance drive rapid accumulation of sequence polymorphism with possible adaptive advantages. Together, our data suggest that telomere maintenance is frequently compromised in Pyricularia but the chromosome alterations resulting from telomere failure are not as catastrophic as prior research would predict, and may, in fact, be potent drivers of adaptive polymorphism.

Document Type

Article

Publication Date

8-9-2021

Notes/Citation Information

Published in Frontiers in Genetics, v. 12, article 676751.

© 2021 Rahnama, Wang, Dostart, Novikova, Yackzan, Yackzan, Bruss, Baker, Jacob, Zhang, Lamb, Stewart, Heist, Hoover, Calie, Chen, Liu and Farman

This is an open-access article distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution License (CC BY). The use, distribution or reproduction in other forums is permitted, provided the original author(s) and the copyright owner(s) are credited and that the original publication in this journal is cited, in accordance with accepted academic practice. No use, distribution or reproduction is permitted which does not comply with these terms.

Digital Object Identifier (DOI)

https://doi.org/10.3389/fgene.2021.676751

Funding Information

This work was supported by the following grants from the National Science Foundation: MCB-0135462, MCB-0653930, and MCB-1716491. National Science Foundation (NSF) supported a majority of the telomere research USDA-NIFA grant 2013-68004-20378 was used to accumulate some of the genome sequence data that were used to examine the conservation of telomere junctions and telomere-adjacent sequences. HJ was partially supported on an EKU/Battelle Summer Scholarship.

Related Content

Assembled genome sequences and raw sequence reads utilized in this project are available at NCBI (https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov) under the following BioProjects: PRJNA320483 and PRJNA579424.

The Supplementary Material for this article can be found online at: https://www.frontiersin.org/articles/10.3389/fgene.2021.676751/full#supplementary-material The materials are also available for download as the additional files listed at the end of this record.

Download

Additional files available below

Share

COinS