Characterization of telomere DNA from Neurospora crassa

The nucleotide sequence of the telomere at the right end of linkage group V (VR) in the standard OR23-IV-A strain of the filamentous fungus, Neurospora crassa, reveals the following features. At the chromosome terminus, tandem repeats of the hexanucleotide TTAGGG are present. Immediately centromere-proximal to the simple sequence repeat is a more complex element called Pogo that is reiterated 5-10 times in the genomes of various Neurospora strains. The element possesses several features characteristic of a transposable element: direct repeats of 318 bp flank the element, there is a long internal open reading frame (ORF), and a 3-bp duplication is found at its borders. However, Pogo has other structural features that are more difficult to reconcile with the standard model of a transposable element. A second telomere from Neurospora was also cloned by screening a genomic lambda library with a synthetic oligodeoxyribonucleotide homologous to the simple sequence repeats. This telomere is entirely non-homologous with the VR telomere except for the TTAGGG repeats, has no associated copy of Pogo, and has no nearby ORFs. There are no long stretches of TTAGGG repeats present in the Neurospora genome at non-telomeric sites.