Telomerase

An enzyme concerned with the formation, maintenance, and renovation of telomeres, the ends of chromosomes.

Telomerase regulates the proliferative capacity of human cells.

Telomerase activation plays a critical role in the progression of cancer as well as in normal somatic cells.

Failure to activate sufficient telomerase promotes disease.

In biochemical terms, telomerase acts as a telomerase-reverse transcriptase (TERT).

It transcribes RNA into DNA and is the reverse-transcribing enzyme specific to the telomeric sequence.

Telomerase is itself a ribonucleoprotein (a complex of RNA and protein).

It has two unique features: it is able to recognize a single-stranded (G-rich) telomere primer and it is able to add multiple telomeric repeats to its end by using an RNA template.

A gene coding for telomerase is located in chromosome subband 5p15.33. The ribonucleoprotein enzyme telomerase was discovered bt Dr.

Elizabeth Blackburn.