Searching across hundreds of databases

Our searching services are busy right now. Your search will reload in five seconds.

X
Forgot Password

If you have forgotten your password you can enter your email here and get a temporary password sent to your email.

X
Forgot Password

If you have forgotten your password you can enter your email here and get a temporary password sent to your email.

Rapid induction of alternative lengthening of telomeres by depletion of the histone chaperone ASF1.

Nature structural & molecular biology | 2014

The mechanism of activation of the alternative lengthening of telomeres (ALT) pathway of mammalian chromosome-end maintenance has been unclear. We have now discovered that co-depletion of the histone chaperones ASF1a and ASF1b in human cells induced all hallmarks of ALT in both primary and cancer cells. These included the formation of ALT-associated PML (promyelocytic leukemia) bodies (APBs), the presence of extrachromosomal telomeric DNA species, an elevated frequency of telomeric sister chromatid exchanges (t-SCE) events and intertelomeric exchange of an integrated tag. The induction of ALT characteristics in this setting led to the simultaneous suppression of telomerase. We determined that ALT induction is positively regulated by the proteins RAD17 and BLM and negatively regulated by EXO1 and DNA2. The induction of ALT phenotypes as a consequence of ASF1 depletion strongly supports the hypothesis that ALT is a consequence of histone management dysfunction.

Pubmed ID: 24413054 RIS Download

Research resources used in this publication

None found

Antibodies used in this publication

None found

Associated grants

  • Agency: NCI NIH HHS, United States
    Id: R01CA174942
  • Agency: NCI NIH HHS, United States
    Id: R01 CA174942
  • Agency: NIGMS NIH HHS, United States
    Id: R01GM087476
  • Agency: NCI NIH HHS, United States
    Id: P30CA014195
  • Agency: NIGMS NIH HHS, United States
    Id: R01 GM087476
  • Agency: NCI NIH HHS, United States
    Id: P30 CA014195

Publication data is provided by the National Library of Medicine ® and PubMed ®. Data is retrieved from PubMed ® on a weekly schedule. For terms and conditions see the National Library of Medicine Terms and Conditions.

This is a list of tools and resources that we have found mentioned in this publication.


Salk Institute Razavi Newman Integrative Genomics and Bioinformatics Core Facility (IGC) (tool)

RRID:SCR_014842

Core facility established to assist the Salk community with integrating genomics data into their research. The primary focus of the core is to provide analysis support for next-generation sequencing applications.

View all literature mentions

Bethyl (tool)

RRID:SCR_013554

An Antibody supplier

View all literature mentions

HeLa (tool)

RRID:CVCL_0030

Cell line HeLa is a Cancer cell line with a species of origin Homo sapiens

View all literature mentions

U2OS (tool)

RRID:CVCL_0042

Cell line U2OS is a Cancer cell line with a species of origin Homo sapiens (Human)

View all literature mentions