Addition of Telomerase to Somatic Cells

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Introduction

Telomerase is an enzyme that is able to regenerate telomeres. In humans, it is found in some tissues, such as male germ cells, activated lymphocytes, and certain types of stem cell populations. If present in somatic cells, it can turn them cancerous following mutation. Telomere shortening is one of the factors which contribute to aging so it is worthwhile to look into such an addition to develop anti-aging treatments.

Figure 1: Chromosome, telomere and telomerase shown together. Image was made by the Chopra Foundation https://www.choprafoundation.org/education-research/past-studies/seduction-of-spirit-meditation-study/

Section 1 Genetics

Telomeres are repeating sequences of nucleotides at the end of chromosomes. This sequence has been identified to be "TTAGGC". Leonard Hayflick demonstrated that a normal human fetal cell population will divide between 40 and 60 times in cell culture before entering a senescence phase. It occurs because each time a cell undergoes mitosis, the telomeres on the ends of each chromosome shorten slightly since not all of them can be copied by DNA polymerase. Cell division will cease once telomeres shorten to a critical length. Hayflick interpreted his discovery to be aging at the cellular level.[1]

Section 2 Microbiome

Telomerase is a reverse transcriptase enzyme with its own RNA template. This makes it very similar to DNA viruses with the notable exception of capsids. Such similarities could be used to establish the idea that viruses may have fused with the cells of other organisms to give rise to telomerase in the course of evolution from the RNA world.[2]

Conclusion

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References


Edited by Nafeez Ishmam Ahmed, student of Joan Slonczewski for BIOL 116 Information in Living Systems, 2019, Kenyon College.