| First Author | Biswas U | Year | 2023 |
| Journal | Life Sci Alliance | Volume | 6 |
| Issue | 7 | PubMed ID | 37160312 |
| Mgi Jnum | J:353758 | Mgi Id | MGI:7481641 |
| Doi | 10.26508/lsa.202201798 | Citation | Biswas U, et al. (2023) Cohesin SMC1beta promotes closed chromatin and controls TERRA expression at spermatocyte telomeres. Life Sci Alliance 6(7) |
| abstractText | Previous data showed that meiotic cohesin SMC1beta protects spermatocyte telomeres from damage. The underlying reason, however, remained unknown as the expressions of telomerase and shelterin components were normal in Smc1beta (-/-) spermatocytes. Here. we report that SMC1beta restricts expression of the long noncoding RNA TERRA (telomeric repeat containing RNA) in spermatocytes. In somatic cell lines increased TERRA was reported to cause telomere damage through altering telomere chromatin structure. In Smc1beta (-/-) spermatocytes, we observed strongly increased levels of TERRA which accumulate on damaged chromosomal ends, where enhanced R-loop formation was found. This suggested a more open chromatin configuration near telomeres in Smc1beta (-/-) spermatocytes, which was confirmed by ATAC-seq. Telomere-distal regions were not affected by the absence of SMC1beta but RNA-seq revealed increased transcriptional activity in telomere-proximal regions. Thus, SMC1beta promotes closed chromatin specifically near telomeres and limits TERRA expression in spermatocytes. |
