Taz1p and Teb1p, two telobox proteins in Schizosaccharomyces pombe, recognize different telomere-related DNA sequences

Band shift assays were used to study proteins from the fission yeast that bind double-stranded telomeric repeat sequences. We also examine general DNA binding properties of the telobox domain, which characterizes telomere-binding proteins from a range of species. We demonstrate that Taz1p has a high affinity for the fission yeast telomeric repeat, consistent with genetic results implicating this protein in telomere maintenance, A second Schizosaccharomyces pombe telobox protein, Teb1p, is shown to bind with high affinity to the vertebrate repeat and with low affinity to the fission yeast telomeric DNA. When tested on G-rich single-stranded telomeric DNA, all these proteins bind with very low affinity, much like the human telomere-binding protein TRF1. Recombinant proteins containing just the telobox domains reproduce the specificity of binding demonstrated for the corresponding full-length proteins, indicating that the telobox domain is indeed responsible for specific DNA recognition. The presence of possible Teb1p-binding sites upstream of many genes suggests a role for this protein as a general transcription factor. Finally, band shift experiments with whole cell extracts from wild-type and taz1(-) strains suggest that in addition to Taz1p, S.pombe has another major telomere-binding activity.