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Exploring the Telomeric Repeat Addition Processivity of Vertebrate Telomerase

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

Identiferoai:union.ndltd.org:asu.edu/item:8590
Date January 2010
ContributorsXie, Mingyi (Author), Chen, Julian J.L. (Advisor), Yan, Hao (Committee member), Wachter, Rebekka M. (Committee member), Arizona State University (Publisher)
Source SetsArizona State University
LanguageEnglish
Detected LanguageEnglish
TypeDoctoral Dissertation
Format222 pages
Rightshttp://rightsstatements.org/vocab/InC/1.0/, All Rights Reserved

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