Translin and Trax proteins are highly conserved nucleic acid binding proteins
that have been implicated in RNA regulation in a range of biological processes
including tRNA processing, RNA interference, microRNA degradation during
oncogenesis, spermatogenesis and neuronal regulation. Here, we explore the function of this paralogue pair of proteins in the fission yeast. Using transcript analysis we demonstrate a reciprocal mechanism for control of telomere-associated transcripts.
Mutation of tfx1+ (Trax) elevates transcript levels from silenced sub-telomeric
regions of the genome, but not other silenced regions, such as the peri-centromeric heterochromatin. In the case of some sub-telomeric transcripts, but not all, this elevation is dependent on the Trax paralogue, Tsn1 (Translin). In a reciprocal fashion, Tsn1 (Translin) serves to repress levels of transcripts (TERRAs) from the telomeric repeats, whereas Tfx1 serves to maintain these elevated levels. This reveals a novel mechanism for the regulation of telomeric transcripts. We extend this to demonstrate
that human Translin and Trax also controltelomere-associated transcript levels in human cells in a telomere-specific fashion.