abstract: Telomerase is a special reverse transcriptase that extends the linear chromosome termini in eukaryotes. Telomerase is also a unique ribonucleoprotein complex which is composed of the protein component called Telomerase Reverse Transcriptase (TERT) and a telomerase RNA component (TR). The enzyme from most vertebrate species is able to utilize a short template sequence within TR to synthesize a long stretch of telomeric DNA, an ability termed "repeat addition processivity". By using human telomerase reconstituted both in vitro (Rabbit Reticulocyte Lysate) and in vivo (293FT cells), I have demonstrated that a conserved motif in the reverse transcriptase domain of the telomerase protein is crucial for telomerase repeat addition processivity and rate. Furthermore, I have designed a "template-free" telomerase to show that RNA/DNA duplex binding is a critical step for telomere repeat synthesis. In an attempt to expand the understanding of vertebrate telomerase, I have studied RNA-protein interactions of telomerase from teleost fish. The teleost fish telomerase RNA (TR) is by far the smallest vertebrate TR identified, providing a valuable model for structural research. / Dissertation/Thesis / Ph.D. Biochemistry 2010
| Identifer | oai:union.ndltd.org:asu.edu/item:8590 |
| Date | January 2010 |
| Contributors | Xie, Mingyi (Author), Chen, Julian J.L. (Advisor), Yan, Hao (Committee member), Wachter, Rebekka M. (Committee member), Arizona State University (Publisher) |
| Source Sets | Arizona State University |
| Language | English |
| Detected Language | English |
| Type | Doctoral Dissertation |
| Format | 222 pages |
| Rights | http://rightsstatements.org/vocab/InC/1.0/, All Rights Reserved |
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