InTERTpreting telomerase structure and function.
Nucleic Acids Res
; 38(17): 5609-22, 2010 Sep.
Article
en En
| MEDLINE
| ID: mdl-20460453
ABSTRACT
The Nobel Prize in Physiology or Medicine was recently awarded to Elizabeth Blackburn, Carol Greider and Jack Szostak for their pioneering studies on chromosome termini (telomeres) and their discovery of telomerase, the enzyme that synthesizes telomeres. Telomerase is a unique cellular reverse transcriptase that contains an integral RNA subunit, the telomerase RNA and a catalytic protein subunit, the telomerase reverse transcriptase (TERT), as well as several species-specific accessory proteins. Telomerase is essential for genome stability and is associated with a broad spectrum of human diseases including various forms of cancer, bone marrow failure and pulmonary fibrosis. A better understanding of telomerase structure and function will shed important insights into how this enzyme contributes to human disease. To this end, a series of high-resolution structural studies have provided critical information on TERT architecture and may ultimately elucidate novel targets for therapeutic intervention. In this review, we discuss the current knowledge of TERT structure and function, revealed through the detailed analysis of TERT from model organisms. To emphasize the physiological importance of telomeres and telomerase, we also present a general discussion of the human diseases associated with telomerase dysfunction.
Texto completo:
1
Colección:
01-internacional
Banco de datos:
MEDLINE
Asunto principal:
Telomerasa
Límite:
Humans
Idioma:
En
Revista:
Nucleic Acids Res
Año:
2010
Tipo del documento:
Article
País de afiliación:
Reino Unido