Ty5 retrotransposon

The Saccharomyces cerevisiae retrotransposon Ty5

Ty5 is one of five endogenous retrotransposons native to the model organism Saccharomyces cerevisiae, all of which target integration to gene poor regions. Endogenous retrotransposons are hypothesized to target gene poor chromosomal targets in order to reduce the chance of inactivating host genes. Ty1-Ty4 integrate upstream of Pol III promoters, while Ty5 targets integration to loci bound in heterochromatin. In the case of Ty5, this likely occurs by means of an interaction between the C-terminus of integrase and a target protein. Ty5 is used as a model system by which to understand the biology of the telomere and heterochromatin. The Ty5 retrotransposon is used as a genetic model to study the architecture and dynamics of the telomeres and heterochromatin.

Yeast heterochromatin and Ty5.

Heterochromatin in S. cerevisiae is composed of a wide array of proteins and plays several roles. The first stage of heterochromatin formation requires DNA binding proteins, which interact with specific cis DNA sequences at the...
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