Positive and negative regulation of telomerase access to the telomere

2000 ◽  
Vol 113 (19) ◽  
pp. 3357-3364 ◽  
Author(s):  
S.K. Evans ◽  
V. Lundblad
Keyword(s):  
Telomere Length ◽  
Mammalian Cells ◽  
Feedback System ◽  
Order Structure ◽  
Telomeric Dna ◽  
Repeat Sequences ◽  
Fundamental Part ◽  
Telomere Function ◽  
Associated Proteins ◽  
Chromosome Integrity

The protective caps on chromosome ends - known as telomeres - consist of DNA and associated proteins that are essential for chromosome integrity. A fundamental part of ensuring proper telomere function is maintaining adequate length of the telomeric DNA tract. Telomeric repeat sequences are synthesized by the telomerase reverse transcriptase, and, as such, telomerase is a central player in the maintenance of steady-state telomere length. Evidence from both yeast and mammals suggests that telomere-associated proteins positively or negatively control access of telomerase to the chromosome terminus. In yeast, positive regulation of telomerase access appears to be achieved through recruitment of the enzyme by the end-binding protein Cdc13p. In contrast, duplex-DNA-binding proteins assembled along the telomeric tract exert a feedback system that negatively modulates telomere length by limiting the action of telomerase. In mammalian cells, and perhaps also in yeast, binding of these proteins probably promotes a higher-order structure that renders the telomere inaccessible to the telomerase enzyme.

scholarly journals Alterations of DNA and Chromatin Structures at Telomeres and Genetic Instability in Mouse Cells Defective in DNA Polymerase α

2005 ◽  
Vol 25 (24) ◽  
pp. 11073-11088 ◽  
Author(s):  
Mirai Nakamura ◽  
Akira Nabetani ◽  
Takeshi Mizuno ◽  
Fumio Hanaoka ◽  
Fuyuki Ishikawa
Keyword(s):  
Telomere Length ◽  
Dna Polymerase ◽  
Temperature Sensitive ◽  
Telomeric Dna ◽  
Dna Polymerase Α ◽  
Genome Wide ◽  
Associated Proteins ◽  
Mouse Cells ◽  
The Impact ◽  
Lagging Strand

ABSTRACT Telomere length is controlled by a homeostatic mechanism that involves telomerase, telomere-associated proteins, and conventional replication machinery. Specifically, the coordinated actions of the lagging strand synthesis and telomerase have been argued. Although DNA polymerase α, an enzyme important for the lagging strand synthesis, has been indicated to function in telomere metabolism in yeasts and ciliates, it has not been characterized in higher eukaryotes. Here, we investigated the impact of compromised polymerase α activity on telomeres, using tsFT20 mouse mutant cells harboring a temperature-sensitive polymerase α mutant allele. When polymerase α was temperature-inducibly inactivated, we observed sequential events that included an initial extension of the G-tail followed by a marked increase in the overall telomere length occurring in telomerase-independent and -dependent manners, respectively. These alterations of telomeric DNA were accompanied by alterations of telomeric chromatin structures as revealed by quantitative chromatin immunoprecipitation and immunofluorescence analyses of TRF1 and POT1. Unexpectedly, polymerase α inhibition resulted in a significantly high incidence of Robertsonian chromosome fusions without noticeable increases in other types of chromosomal aberrations. These results indicate that although DNA polymerase α is essential for genome-wide DNA replication, hypomorphic activity leads to a rather specific spectrum of chromosomal abnormality.

Telomerase Activity and Telomere Length in APL: May Be Proliferative and Prognostic Markers.

Blood ◽  
2007 ◽  
Vol 110 (11) ◽  
pp. 4236-4236 ◽  
Author(s):  
Seyed Hamidolah Ghaffari ◽  
Nilofar Shayan-Asl ◽  
Abdolhamid Jamialahmadi ◽  
Ardeshir Ghavamzadeh ◽  
Kamran Alimoghaddam
Keyword(s):  
Telomere Length ◽  
Prognostic Markers ◽  
Telomerase Activity ◽  
Size Difference ◽  
Activity Levels ◽  
Telomeric Dna ◽  
Pcr Assay ◽  
Peripheral Blood Mononuclear ◽  
Normal Individuals ◽  
Associated Proteins

Abstract Introduction: The telomeric DNA together with its associated proteins protects the chromosome ends from degradation or aberrant recombination. Telomerase and telomere are extensively investigated as potential diagnostic and prognostic markers in human tumors. In this study, we aim to investigate the significance of telomerase activity (TA) and telomere length (TL) in patients with acute promyelocytic leukemia (APL). Methods: About 300 sequential peripheral blood mononuclear cell (PBMC) samples were collected from 40 patients with APL (32 newly diagnosed and 8 relapsed), at diagnosis, during and after therapy with Arsenic Trioxide. TA was assessed by TRAP-ELISA and -PAGE procedures. Terminal restriction fragment (TRF) length was determined by Southern blot analysis, using a Chemiluminescence-based assay. Quantification of PML-RARα/G6PDH transcripts was carried out by real-time PCR assay. Results: About 90% of the APL patients had a significant reduction in TRF length (median 3.5, ranged 2.3 to 6.7 kbp) relative to the age-matched control or to that at the time of CR (median 11.37; ranged 8.90 to 14.70 kbp) from the same patients (P<0.0001). A significance positive correlation between telomere length and PML-RARα expression was found in the APL patients (P=0.001). In all the APL patients, telomerase activity was elevated in comparison with normal individuals (P<0.001). The telomerase activity levels were significantly higher in patients with short TRF. The group of patients with shortened TRF and elevated TA had a significantly poorer overall survival. The levels of TA were even significantly higher and the TL size difference of leukemic from non-leukemic was significantly longer in relapsed patients than patients with the primary APL. Conclusion: Short telomere and high telomerase levels in the APL patients are mainly a consequence of extensive proliferative histories and they correlate with the disease progression. The shortened telomere length and the elevated telomerase activity may serve as prognostic factors for a subset of APL patients with more aggressive disease and poor outcome, and who may not respond favourably to arsenic therapy.

scholarly journals Telomere length varies substantially between blood cell types in a reptile

2020 ◽  
Vol 7 (6) ◽  
pp. 192136 ◽  
Author(s):  
Mats Olsson ◽  
Nicholas J. Geraghty ◽  
Erik Wapstra ◽  
Mark Wilson
Keyword(s):  
Blood Cell ◽  
Telomere Length ◽  
Whole Blood ◽  
Phylogenetic Analyses ◽  
Natural Populations ◽  
Cell Types ◽  
Tissue Type ◽  
Telomeric Dna ◽  
Blood Cell Type ◽  
Widespread Phenomenon

Telomeres are repeat sequences of non-coding DNA-protein molecules that cap or intersperse metazoan chromosomes. Interest in telomeres has increased exponentially in recent years, to now include their ongoing dynamics and evolution within natural populations where individuals vary in telomere attributes. Phylogenetic analyses show profound differences in telomere length across non-model taxa. However, telomeres may also differ in length within individuals and between tissues. The latter becomes a potential source of error when researchers use different tissues for extracting DNA for telomere analysis and scientific inference. A commonly used tissue type for assessing telomere length is blood, a tissue that itself varies in terms of nuclear content among taxa, in particular to what degree their thrombocytes and red blood cells (RBCs) contain nuclei or not. Specifically, when RBCs lack nuclei, leucocytes become the main source of telomeric DNA. RBCs and leucocytes differ in lifespan and how long they have been exposed to ‘senescence' and erosion effects. We report on a study in which cells in whole blood from individual Australian painted dragon lizards ( Ctenophorus pictus ) were identified using flow cytometry and their telomere length simultaneously measured. Lymphocyte telomeres were on average 270% longer than RBC telomeres, and in azurophils (a reptilian monocyte), telomeres were more than 388% longer than those in RBCs. If this variation in telomere length among different blood cell types is a widespread phenomenon, and DNA for comparative telomere analyses are sourced from whole blood, evolutionary inference of telomere traits among taxa may be seriously complicated by the blood cell type comprising the main source of DNA.

scholarly journals Natural variation in plant telomere length is associated with flowering time

2021 ◽  
Author(s):  
Jae Young Choi ◽  
Liliia R Abdulkina ◽  
Jun Yin ◽  
Inna B Chastukhina ◽  
John T Lovell ◽  
...  
Keyword(s):  
Life History ◽  
Telomere Length ◽  
Flowering Time ◽  
Dna Sequences ◽  
Genome Wide Association Study ◽  
Genomic Analysis ◽  
Life History Strategies ◽  
Length Variation ◽  
Chromosomal Structure ◽  
Chromosome Integrity

Abstract Telomeres are highly repetitive DNA sequences found at the ends of chromosomes that protect the chromosomes from deterioration during cell division. Here, using whole genome re-sequencing and terminal restriction fragment assays, we found substantial natural intraspecific variation in telomere length in Arabidopsis thaliana, rice (Oryza sativa), and maize (Zea mays). Genome-wide association study (GWAS) mapping in A. thaliana identified 13 regions with GWAS-significant associations underlying telomere length variation, including a region that harbors the telomerase reverse transcriptase (TERT) gene. Population genomic analysis provided evidence for a selective sweep at the TERT region associated with longer telomeres. We found that telomere length is negatively correlated with flowering time variation not only in A. thaliana, but also in maize and rice, indicating a link between life history traits and chromosome integrity. Our results point to several possible reasons for this correlation, including the possibility that longer telomeres may be more adaptive in plants that have faster developmental rates (and therefore flower earlier). Our work suggests that chromosomal structure itself might be an adaptive trait associated with plant life history strategies.

scholarly journals Telomere Length and Oxidative Stress and Its Relation with Metabolic Syndrome Components in the Aging

Biology ◽  
2021 ◽  
Vol 10 (4) ◽  
pp. 253
Author(s):  
Graciela Gavia-García ◽  
Juana Rosado-Pérez ◽  
Taide Laurita Arista-Ugalde ◽  
Itzen Aguiñiga-Sánchez ◽  
Edelmiro Santiago-Osorio ◽  
...  
Keyword(s):  
Oxidative Stress ◽  
Metabolic Syndrome ◽  
Telomere Length ◽  
Scientific Evidence ◽  
Telomeric Dna ◽  
Biochemical Alterations ◽  
The Metabolic Syndrome ◽  
Age Related ◽  
And Function

A great amount of scientific evidence supports that Oxidative Stress (OxS) can contribute to telomeric attrition and also plays an important role in the development of certain age-related diseases, among them the metabolic syndrome (MetS), which is characterised by clinical and biochemical alterations such as obesity, dyslipidaemia, arterial hypertension, hyperglycaemia, and insulin resistance, all of which are considered as risk factors for type 2 diabetes mellitus (T2DM) and cardiovascular diseases, which are associated in turn with an increase of OxS. In this sense, we review scientific evidence that supports the association between OxS with telomere length (TL) dynamics and the relationship with MetS components in aging. It was analysed whether each MetS component affects the telomere length separately or if they all affect it together. Likewise, this review provides a summary of the structure and function of telomeres and telomerase, the mechanisms of telomeric DNA repair, how telomere length may influence the fate of cells or be linked to inflammation and the development of age-related diseases, and finally, how the lifestyles can affect telomere length.

scholarly journals Scanning Electron-Assisted Dielectric Microscopy Reveals Autophagosome Formation by LC3 and ATG12 in Cultured Mammalian Cells

2021 ◽  
Vol 22 (4) ◽  
pp. 1834
Author(s):  
Tomoko Okada ◽  
Toshihiko Ogura
Keyword(s):  
Mammalian Cells ◽  
Culture Medium ◽  
Related Gene ◽  
Autophagosome Formation ◽  
Intact Cells ◽  
Microtubule Associated Proteins ◽  
Associated Proteins ◽  
The Difference ◽  
Related Proteins ◽  
Scanning Electron

Autophagy is an intracellular self-devouring system that plays a central role in cellular recycling. The formation of functional autophagosomes depends on several autophagy-related proteins, including the microtubule-associated proteins 1A/1B light chain 3 (LC3) and the conserved autophagy-related gene 12 (Atg12). We have recently developed a novel scanning electron-assisted dielectric microscope (SE-ADM) for nanoscale observations of intact cells. Here, we used the SE-ADM system to observe LC3- and Atg12-containing autophagosomes in cells labelled in the culture medium with antibodies conjugated to colloidal gold particles. We observed that, during autophagosome formation, Atg12 localized along the actin meshwork structure, whereas LC3 formed arcuate or circular alignments. Our system also showed a difference in the distribution of LC3 and Atg12; Atg12 was broadly distributed while LC3 was more localized. The difference in the spatial distribution demonstrated by our system explains the difference in the size of fluorescent spots due to the fluorescently labelled antibodies observed using optical microscopy. The direct SE-ADM observation of cells should thus be effective in analyses of autophagosome formation.

scholarly journals Telomerase RNA Template Mutations Reveal Sequence-Specific Requirements for the Activation and Repression of Telomerase Action at Telomeres

2000 ◽  
Vol 20 (8) ◽  
pp. 2941-2948 ◽  
Author(s):  
John C. Prescott ◽  
Elizabeth H. Blackburn
Keyword(s):  
Enzymatic Activity ◽  
Activity Levels ◽  
Telomeric Dna ◽  
Telomere Shortening ◽  
Telomere Elongation ◽  
Telomere Binding Protein ◽  
Telomere Function ◽  
Double Base ◽  
Telomere Lengthening

ABSTRACT Telomeric DNA is maintained within a length range characteristic of an organism or cell type. Significant deviations outside this range are associated with altered telomere function. The yeast telomere-binding protein Rap1p negatively regulates telomere length. Telomere elongation is responsive to both the number of Rap1p molecules bound to a telomere and the Rap1p-centered DNA-protein complex at the extreme telomeric end. Previously, we showed that a specific trinucleotide substitution in the Saccharomyces cerevisiae telomerase gene (TLC1) RNA template abolished the enzymatic activity of telomerase, causing the same cell senescence and telomere shortening phenotypes as a complete tlc1 deletion. Here we analyze effects of six single- and double-base changes within these same three positions. All six mutant telomerases had in vitro enzymatic activity levels similar to the wild-type levels. The base changes predicted from the mutations all disrupted Rap1p binding in vitro to the corresponding duplex DNAs. However, they caused two classes of effects on telomere homeostasis: (i) rapid, RAD52-independent telomere lengthening and poor length regulation, whose severity correlated with the decrease in in vitro Rap1p binding affinity (this is consistent with loss of negative regulation of telomerase action at these telomeres; and (ii) telomere shortening that, depending on the template mutation, either established a new short telomere set length with normal cell growth or was progressive and led to cellular senescence. Hence, disrupting Rap1p binding at the telomeric terminus is not sufficient to deregulate telomere elongation. This provides further evidence that both positive and negativecis-acting regulators of telomerase act at telomeres.

scholarly journals Cdc13 N-Terminal Dimerization, DNA Binding, and Telomere Length Regulation

2010 ◽  
Vol 30 (22) ◽  
pp. 5325-5334 ◽  
Author(s):  
Meghan T. Mitchell ◽  
Jasmine S. Smith ◽  
Mark Mason ◽  
Sandy Harper ◽  
David W. Speicher ◽  
...  
Keyword(s):  
Dna Binding ◽  
Telomere Length ◽  
Functional Characterization ◽  
Point Mutations ◽  
Telomeric Dna ◽  
Dna Binding Domains ◽  
Binding Domains ◽  
Length Regulation ◽  
Telomere Length Regulation

ABSTRACT The essential yeast protein Cdc13 facilitates chromosome end replication by recruiting telomerase to telomeres, and together with its interacting partners Stn1 and Ten1, it protects chromosome ends from nucleolytic attack, thus contributing to genome integrity. Although Cdc13 has been studied extensively, the precise role of its N-terminal domain (Cdc13N) in telomere length regulation remains unclear. Here we present a structural, biochemical, and functional characterization of Cdc13N. The structure reveals that this domain comprises an oligonucleotide/oligosaccharide binding (OB) fold and is involved in Cdc13 dimerization. Biochemical data show that Cdc13N weakly binds long, single-stranded, telomeric DNA in a fashion that is directly dependent on domain oligomerization. When introduced into full-length Cdc13 in vivo, point mutations that prevented Cdc13N dimerization or DNA binding caused telomere shortening or lengthening, respectively. The multiple DNA binding domains and dimeric nature of Cdc13 offer unique insights into how it coordinates the recruitment and regulation of telomerase access to the telomeres.

scholarly journals Molecular cloning of cellular genes encoding retinoblastoma-associated proteins: identification of a gene with properties of the transcription factor E2F.

1992 ◽  
Vol 12 (12) ◽  
pp. 5620-5631 ◽  
Author(s):  
B Shan ◽  
X Zhu ◽  
P L Chen ◽  
T Durfee ◽  
Y Yang ◽  
...  
Keyword(s):  
Transcription Factor ◽  
Mammalian Cells ◽  
Leucine Zipper ◽  
T Antigen ◽  
Transactivation Domain ◽  
Recognition Sequence ◽  
Cellular Genes ◽  
Genes Encoding ◽  
Associated Proteins ◽  
Transcription Factor E2f

The retinoblastoma protein interacts with a number of cellular proteins to form complexes which are probably crucial for its normal physiological function. To identify these proteins, we isolated nine distinct clones by direct screening of cDNA expression libraries using purified RB protein as a probe. One of these clones, Ap12, is expressed predominantly at the G1-S boundary and in the S phase of the cell cycle. The nucleotide sequence of Ap12 has features characteristic of transcription factors. The C-terminal region binds to unphosphorylated RB in regions similar to those to which T antigen binds and contains a transactivation domain. A region containing a potential leucine zipper flanked by basic residues is able to bind an E2F recognition sequence specifically. Expression of Ap12 in mammalian cells significantly enhances E2F-dependent transcriptional activity. These results suggest that Ap12 encodes a protein with properties known to be characteristic of transcription factor E2F.

scholarly journals The eisosome core is composed of BAR domain proteins

2011 ◽  
Vol 22 (13) ◽  
pp. 2360-2372 ◽  
Author(s):  
Agustina Olivera-Couto ◽  
Martin Graña ◽  
Laura Harispe ◽  
Pablo S. Aguilar
Keyword(s):  
Plasma Membrane ◽  
Mammalian Cells ◽  
Site Directed Mutagenesis ◽  
Bar Domain ◽  
Macromolecular Assemblies ◽  
Surface Patches ◽  
Cytoplasmic Proteins ◽  
Associated Proteins ◽  
Core Components ◽  
Membrane Bending

Eisosomes define sites of plasma membrane organization. In Saccharomyces cerevisiae, eisosomes delimit furrow-like plasma membrane invaginations that concentrate sterols, transporters, and signaling molecules. Eisosomes are static macromolecular assemblies composed of cytoplasmic proteins, most of which have no known function. In this study, we used a bioinformatics approach to analyze a set of 20 eisosome proteins. We found that the core components of eisosomes, paralogue proteins Pil1 and Lsp1, are distant homologues of membrane-sculpting Bin/amphiphysin/Rvs (BAR) proteins. Consistent with this finding, purified recombinant Pil1 and Lsp1 tubulated liposomes and formed tubules when the proteins were overexpressed in mammalian cells. Structural homology modeling and site-directed mutagenesis indicate that Pil1 positively charged surface patches are needed for membrane binding and liposome tubulation. Pil1 BAR domain mutants were defective in both eisosome assembly and plasma membrane domain organization. In addition, we found that eisosome-associated proteins Slm1 and Slm2 have F-BAR domains and that these domains are needed for targeting to furrow-like plasma membrane invaginations. Our results support a model in which BAR domain protein–mediated membrane bending leads to clustering of lipids and proteins within the plasma membrane.

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