Pot1: Babysitting the End of the Telomere

Aspergilli possess short and tightly regulated telomeres, the protective caps at the ends of chromosomes. A protein (Pot1/NIMU) has been identified in Aspergillus nidulans that may bind to the single-stranded overhang of the telomeres. No studies have been done regarding the importance of Pot1/NIMU to telomere maintenance in Aspergillus. I work with a temperature sensitive mutant of A. nidulans, which does not possess functional Pot1/NIMU at elevated temperatures. This mutant displays extremely variable telomere length, evident when compared to the tightly regulated telomeres of the wild type strain. These findings identify Pot1/NIMU as a key player in telomere length regulation