Protistology 1 (4) 148–151 (2000)
The telomeres of replicating macronuclear DNA-molecules of the hypotrichous ciliate Stylonychia lemnae Stefan A. Juranek, Franziska Jönsson, Christian Maercker and Hans J. Lipps Institut fur Zellbiologie, Universitat Witten/Herdecke, Witten, FRG Summary While the telomeres of higher eukaryotic cells show heterogenity in their length no such length heterogenity is observed in the macronuclear DNA of hypotrichous ciliates. Since the analysis of the telomere structure of replicating DNA molecules might give an insight in the mechanisms of telomere length regulation Stylonychia cell cultures were synchronized, the replicating DNA was labeled with BrdU and isolated by immuno-precipitation. The 3'- as well as the 5'-end of these replicating DNA was labeled and both ends were sequenced using the chemical degradation method by Maxam and Gilbert (1977). The telomere length of the BrdU labeled DNA was identical to that of macronuclear DNA of starved cells. Possible explanations for this observation are discussed. Key words: cell synchronization, replication band, BrdU-labeling, gene-sized DNA molecules, Stylonychia | Back to Contents | Load PDF | |