The mechanisms that maintain the stability of chromosome ends have broad impact on
genome integrity in all eukaryotes. Budding yeast is a premier organism for telomere
studies. Many fundamental concepts of telomere and telomerase function were first
established in yeast and then extended to other organisms. We present a comprehensive
review of yeast telomere biology that covers capping, replication, recombination, and
transcription. We think of it as yeast telomeres—soup to nuts.