Baumann lab identifies elusive telomere RNA subunit in single cell model

December 28, 2007

The Stowers Institute's Baumann Lab has identified the long-sought telomerase RNA gene in a single-cell research model. Their findings have been posted to the Web site of the journal Nature Structural & Molecular Biology and will appear in a future print edition.

Chromosomes shorten with every cell division. In stem cells and in cancer cells, this shortening is compensated by telomerase, an enzyme that adds short repeat sequences to the ends of chromosomes to replenish lost DNA. As telomerase is required for the continued growth of most cancer cells, the enzyme is considered a promising target for new anti-cancer drugs. A correlation between telomere length and a variety of diseases has further intensified interest in understanding telomerase and its regulation.

The RNA subunit of telomerase is of particular interest as it represents one of the two core components of telomerase and provides the template for the short repeats that are added to the ends of chromosomes. The Baumann Lab is working to understand how telomerase is assembled, how it is recruited to chromosome ends, and how its activity is regulated. These efforts may shed light on the sometimes surprising correlations between telomere shortening and stress, smoking, obesity, and a variety of diseases including cancer and coronary heart disease.

Telomerase RNA has been studied in a variety of simple model organisms, but telomere maintenance turned out to be quite different in these species compared to human cells. Recently, the Baumann Lab used a biochemical approach to identify and clone the RNA subunit of telomerase in Schizosaccharomyces pombe, or fission yeast.

"The identification of the fission yeast equivalent of the telomerase RNA gene provides us with a critical tool to study telomerase in a genetically tractable, single-cell organism with a telomere maintenance machinery that shares many features with human cells," explained Peter Baumann, Ph.D., Assistant Investigator and senior author on the paper. "We and others had been studying telomerase activity, recruitment, and regulation for several years but the fact that the RNA subunit was unknown in our fission yeast model system severely limited our ability to make progress."

Now that the missing component of the model system has been identified, the Baumann Lab's structural and functional studies are expected to progress rapidly. The lab is now turning its attention to how and where telomerase is assembled from its components in the cell and what processing it must undergo to become active.

Stowers Institute for Medical Research

The Immortality Edge: Realize the Secrets of Your Telomeres for a Longer, Healthier Life
by Michael Fossel (Author), Greta Blackburn (Author), Dave Woynarowski (Author)

Based on Nobel Prize–winning genetic research-a simple plan to keep your telomeres healthy for better health and longevityTelomeres play an important role in protecting our chromosomes from critical damage. The shortening of the telomere disrupts vital cellular function and promotes the previously seemingly inevitable onset of aging and various diseases, including cancer and Alzheimer's. Drawing from the groundbreaking discoveries about telomeres that won the 2009 Nobel Prize in Medicine, this book includes a highly prescriptive program that shows you how to live longer by slowing telomere shortening and rejuvenating your cells through relatively simple alterations in nutrition habits and other lifestyle changes. Written by authors with extensive knowledge of genetics, telomeres, and...

Bio-Identical Hormones and Telomerase: The Nobel Prize-Winning Research into Human Life Extension and Health
by Dr. Edmund Chein (Author)

As we grow older, many of us experience a tremendous amount of frustration because something inside us doesn't work the way it used to. Nutrition experts tell us to eat certain kinds of food . . . some claim free radicals are the sole cause of aging, and that the only way to longevity is through antioxidant supplements. Fitness gurus tell us the only answer is exercise. When we do exercise or go on a diet, we feel a little better-but not much, and not the way we felt when we were younger. We exercise or diet twice as much to stay at the same place, and even that is a challenge. The story has been the same throughout history, so we wonder if we should continue to fight the battle, or if we should just learn to grow old gracefully. Improvements in medical technology and new knowledge about...

Telomeres and Telomerase: Methods and Protocols (Methods in Molecular Biology)
by Zhou Songyang (Editor)

New and rapid advances in technology have equipped us with a variety of tools and platforms to ask fundamental questions of telomere regulation and have allowed investigators to carry out experiments using diverse model systems. For example, proteomic, genomic, and molecular approaches have afforded us unprecedented insight into the complex protein interaction networks at work on the telomere chromatin and the detailed information regarding telomere dynamics in response to stress or stimuli. Telomeres and Telomerase: Methods and Protocols, Second Edition builds upon the telomerase assays featured in the popular first edition to encompass many different assays that allow investigators to query the function of telomere proteins and the responses of the telomere DNA, including detailed...

Telomerases: Chemistry, Biology and Clinical Applications
by Neal Lue (Author), Chantal Autexier (Author)

This book is a comprehensive and up-to-date review and evaluation of the contemporary status of telomerase research. Chapters in this volume cover the basic structure, mechanisms, and diversity of the essential and regulatory subunits of telomerase. Other topics include telomerase biogenesis, transcriptional and post-translational regulation, off-telomere functions of telomerase and the role of telomerase in cellular senescence, aging and cancer. Its relationship to retrotransposons, a class of mobile genetic elements that shares similarities with telomerase and serves as telomeres in selected organisms, are also reviewed.

The Immortality Pill - Available Now: How Nobel Prize Winning Anti-Aging Science on Telomeres, Telomerase and TA-65 Can Help You Live Longer and Healthier, Fight Aging, and Stay Young
by Gold Egg Investing LLC

This is a short report -- around 10,000 words -- on the amazing health and anti-aging benefits available right now to seniors who wish to postpone old age and death for as long as possible.

This work is all-original and all-unique.

What causes us to age?

At first, that sounds like a stupid question. Aging is such an intrinsic aspect to the human condition we tend to take for granted that it . . . just . . . happens.

But we live in a world of cause and effect. Aging is an effect, so what is the cause?

The common way of thinking about this is from the perspective that our bodies are physical, and everything else that's physical eventually wears out or breaks down, such as our cars, our houses, and even our computers.

That's...

Bio-identical Hormones and Telomerase
by iUniverse

"As we grow older, many of us experience a tremendous amount of frustration because something inside us doesn’t work the way it used to. Nutrition experts tell us to eat certain kinds of food … some claim free radicals are the sole cause of aging, and that the only way to longevity is through antioxidant supplements. Fitness gurus tell us the only answer is exercise. When we do exercise or go on a diet, we feel a little better—but not much, and not the way we felt when we were younger. We exercise or diet twice as much to stay at the same place, and even that is a challenge.

The story has been the same throughout history, so we wonder if we should continue to fight the battle, or if we should just learn to grow old gracefully.

Improvements in medical technology...

Telomeres and Telomerase in Aging, Disease, and Cancer: Molecular Mechanisms of Adult Stem Cell Ageing
by K. Lenhard Rudolph (Editor)

Telomere shortening represents one of the basic aspects of ageing and telomere dysfunction could contribute to the accumulation of DNA damage during ageing. This book summarizes evidence and data indicating that telomere dysfunction influences human ageing, diseases and cancer. The book describes our current knowledge on checkpoints that limit cellular lifespan and survival in response to telomere dysfunction. There is special focus on adult stem cells.

Telomerase Inhibition: Strategies and Protocols (Methods in Molecular Biology)
by Lucy Andrews (Editor), Trygve O. Tollefsbol (Editor)

This volume presents a compendium of the most recent and advanced methods applied to the rapidly expanding field of telomerase inhibition. The techniques described provide the researcher with a diverse and comprehensive set of tools for the study of telomerase inhibition. The volume is aimed at biochemists, molecular biologists, cancer researchers, and geneticists.

Telomeres and Telomerase in Cancer (Cancer Drug Discovery and Development)
by Keiko Hiyama (Editor)

Telomerase, an enzyme that maintains telomeres and endows eukaryotic cells with immortality, was first discovered in tetrahymena in 1985. In 1990s, it was proven that this enzyme also plays a key role in the infinite proliferation of human cancer cells. Now telomere and telomerase are widely accepted as important factors involved in cancer biology, and as promising diagnostic tools and therapeutic targets. Recently, role of telomerase in “cancer stem cells” has become another attractive story. Until now, there are several good books on telomere and telomerase focusing on biology in ciliates, yeasts, and mouse or basic sciences in human, providing basic scientists or students with updated knowledge.

Telomerases, Telomeres and Cancer (Molecular Biology Intelligence Unit)
by Guido Krupp (Editor), Reza Parwaresch (Editor)

This volume provides broad insights to the most recent discoveries in telomere biology, with current applications in tumor diagnostics and future potentials in therapy. Special features of diverse organisms are presented, with ciliates, the "telomerase discoverer organisms"; yeasts, the "molecular genetisists' toy for eukaryotes"; including plants and insects as well. 28 chapters were written by a group of leading research scientists, working in the telomere/telomerase fields today. This book will be a core reference for any physician, scientist or "educated reader" with an interest in the exciting developments in this research field.