Telomerase and Retrotransposons: Reverse Transcriptases That Shaped Genomes Special Feature Sackler Colloquium: The telomeric Cdc13 protein interacts directly with the telomerase subunit Est1 to bring it to telomeric DNA ends in vitro.

In Saccharomyces cerevisiae, a Cdc13-Est1 interaction is proposed to mediate recruitment of telomerase to DNA ends. Here we provide unique in vitro evidence for this model by demonstrating a direct interaction between purified Cdc13 and Est1. The Cdc13-Est1 interaction is specific and requires the in vivo defined Cdc13 recruitment domain. Moreover, in the absence of this interaction, Est1 is excluded from telomeric single-stranded (ss)DNA. The apparent association constand (K(d)) between Est1 and a Cdc13-telomeric ssDNA complex was 250 nM. In G2 phase cells, where telomerase is active, Cdc13 and Est1 were sufficiently abundant (420 and 110 copies per cell, respectively) to support complex formation. Interaction between Cdc13 and Est1 was unchanged by three telomerase-deficient mutations, Cdc13(E252K) (cdc13-2), Est1(K444E) (est1-60), and Cdc13(S249,255D), indicating that their telomerase null phenotypes are not due to loss of the Cdc13-Est1 interaction. These data recapitulate in vitro the first step in telomerase recruitment to telomeric ssDNA and suggest that this step is necessary to recruit telomerase to DNA ends.