Human telomerase is a ribonucleoprotein complex, minimally composed of a catalytic subunit, hTERT and an RNA component, hTR that contains the template used to synthesize telomere DNA. Telomerase is present in over 80% of all cancer cells. Therefore, an understanding of telomerase regulation is important for cancer research. This thesis work was focused upon the study of telomerase regulation by telomerase associated proteins and alternatively spliced hTERT mRNA variants. Tandem affinity purification (TAP) and immunopurifications with anti-hTERT antibody were used to visualize potential telomerase associated proteins. No specific proteins were identified in TAP-hTERT transfected cells. hTERT was purified from 293 telomerase positive cells, and proteins specifically associated with hTERT were visualized. Insertion 3 and 4 alternatively spliced hTERT mRNA variants were detected in telomerase positive cell lines by RT-PCR and Southern blot analysis. The gamma-deletion alternatively spliced hTERT mRNA variant was detected in Huh-7 liver cells. These results provide information and tools important for a greater understanding of telomerase.
| Identifer | oai:union.ndltd.org:LACETR/oai:collectionscanada.gc.ca:QMM.82434 |
| Date | January 2004 |
| Creators | Taboski, Michael |
| Publisher | McGill University |
| Source Sets | Library and Archives Canada ETDs Repository / Centre d'archives des thèses électroniques de Bibliothèque et Archives Canada |
| Language | English |
| Detected Language | English |
| Type | Electronic Thesis or Dissertation |
| Format | application/pdf |
| Coverage | Master of Science (Department of Anatomy and Cell Biology.) |
| Rights | All items in eScholarship@McGill are protected by copyright with all rights reserved unless otherwise indicated. |
| Relation | alephsysno: 002201480, proquestno: AAIMR12549, Theses scanned by UMI/ProQuest. |
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