In eukaryotic cells, faithful chromosome segregation depends upon the physical pairing, or cohesion, between sister chromatids. Budding yeast CTF7/ECO1 (herein termed CTF7) encodes an essential protein required to establish cohesion during S-phase and associates with DNA replication factors . However, the molecular mechanism by which Ctf7p establishes cohesion remains unknown. In vitro characterization of Ctf7p as an acetyltransferase led to the model that this activity provides for Ctf7p's essential function . However, in vivo Ctf7p substrates have yet to be documented, nor has an in vivo acetyltransferase activity been demonstrated even when Ctf7p is overexpressed (A. Brands and R.V. Skibbens, unpublished data). In fact, the effects of acetylation-defective Ctf7p (ctf7(ack-)) in yeast remain to be rigorously tested, leaving unanswered the critical questions of whether Ctf7p acetyltransferase activity is essential for cell viability and to what extent this activity is required for the establishment of cohesion. Here, we show that yeast strains harboring acetyltransferase-defective alleles as the sole source of Ctf7p function exhibit robust growth and high fidelity chromosome transmission.

• PMID: 15668154
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Comparative Study | Letter

Authors

Brands A, Skibbens RV

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