Gene expression is regulated by various mechanisms. One is gene silencing, which is caused by highly condensed heterochromatin structures. S. pombe genome contains 4-6 subtelomeres adjacent to the telomeres. In order to investigate the roles of subtelomeres, we analyzed the effect of subtelomere deletion in global gene expressions. Overall design: S. pombe cultures(wild-type and subtelomere-deleted strains) at log phase were collected and global mRNAs were analyzed.