Conserved locus-specific silencing functions of Schizosaccharomyces pombe sir2+.

In Schizosaccharomyces pombe, three genes, sir2(+), hst2(+), and hst4(+), encode members of the Sir2 family of conserved NAD(+)-dependent protein deacetylases. The S. pombe sir2(+) gene encodes a nuclear protein that is not essential for viability or for resistance to treatment with UV or a microtubule-destabilizing agent.

The Sir4 C-terminal coiled coil is required for telomeric and mating type silencing in Saccharomyces cerevisiae.

Saccharomyces cerevisiae Sir4p plays important roles in silent chromatin at telomeric and silent mating type loci. The C terminus of Sir4p (Sir4CT) is critical for its functions in vivo because over-expression or deletion of Sir4CT fragments disrupts normal telomeric structure and abolishes the telomere position effect. The 2.