what is a Telomerase ?
The body’s stem cells, which retain their youthful qualities, normally make an enzyme called telomerase that builds telomeres back up again. But when telomeres can’t be maintained, tissues age before their time. Anew study may offer a breakthrough in treating "dyskeratosis congenita"and other telomere diseases, in which cells age prematurely.
1 of 6: Key to Chromosome Immortality
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New technology in stem cell biology is to take skin cells from patients with genetic blood disorders and return them to an embryonic-like state, wherein they regain the ability to form any type of cell in the body.
Scientists then study this process of going back to an embryonic-like state, and then see how the cells develop into different tissues (blood cells, muscle, nerves) will lead to a better understanding of what is going wrong in cells carrying these disease-causing mutations. |
2 of 6: the Discovery of Telomeric DNA and Telomerase
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Dr. Blackburn explains that with each round of replication, the protective repeats, or telomeres, on the end of chromosomes shorten eventually leading to cellular senescence.
Blackburn and her colleagues reasoned that there must be an enzyme that rebuilds the lost telomere so cell division can continue. She explains how this enzyme, called telomerase, was found and discusses its key role in cellular aging. |
3 of 6: telomerase function & how activating mutations can lead to cancer
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what telomerase is, its function in normal cells and how telomerase activating mutations can lead to cancer.
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4 of 6: Telomerase: Resetting the biological clock
5 of 6 : loop structure of telomeres ( at the ends of our chromosomes )
Image Source: https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Telomere.png
6 of 6 : enzmye called telomerase keeps re-building telomers
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Shoelace-like caps at the end of chromosomes, called telomeres, are one of the ways that cells can tell how old they are. As a cell ages, these telomeres get shorter and shorter. A region of chromosome 5 helps the body regulate the length of these telomeres by producing a protein called telomerase. As Dr Lynne Cox explains, by better understanding the process by which this happens we can better understand how cells age, and how too much telomerase can lead to cancer. Dr Lynne Cox runs a lab at the University of Oxford investigating the molecular biology of ageing. |