RT Journal Article SR Electronic T1 Molecular characterization of Chlamydomonas reinhardtii telomeres and telomerase mutants JF Life Science Alliance JO Life Sci. Alliance FD Life Science Alliance LLC SP e201900315 DO 10.26508/lsa.201900315 VO 2 IS 3 A1 Eberhard, Stephan A1 Valuchova, Sona A1 Ravat, Julie A1 Fulneček, Jaroslav A1 Jolivet, Pascale A1 Bujaldon, Sandrine A1 Lemaire, Stéphane D A1 Wollman, Francis-André A1 Teixeira, Maria Teresa A1 Riha, Karel A1 Xu, Zhou YR 2019 UL https://www.life-science-alliance.org/content/2/3/e201900315.abstract AB Telomeres are repeated sequences found at the end of the linear chromosomes of most eukaryotes and are required for chromosome integrity. Expression of the reverse-transcriptase telomerase allows for extension of telomeric repeats to counteract natural telomere shortening. Although Chlamydomonas reinhardtii, a photosynthetic unicellular green alga, is widely used as a model organism in photosynthesis and flagella research, and for biotechnological applications, the biology of its telomeres has not been investigated in depth. Here, we show that the C. reinhardtii (TTTTAGGG)n telomeric repeats are mostly nondegenerate and that the telomeres form a protective structure, with a subset ending with a 3′ overhang and another subset presenting a blunt end. Although telomere size and length distributions are stable under various standard growth conditions, they vary substantially between 12 genetically close reference strains. Finally, we identify CrTERT, the gene encoding the catalytic subunit of telomerase and show that telomeres shorten progressively in mutants of this gene. Telomerase mutants eventually enter replicative senescence, demonstrating that telomerase is required for long-term maintenance of telomeres in C. reinhardtii.