Mikuni O, Trager JB, Ackerly H, Weinrich SL, Asai A, Yamashita Y, Mizukami T, Anazawa H. Reconstitution of telomerase activity utilizing human catalytic subunit expressed in insect cells.
Biochem Biophys Res Commun 2002;
298:144-50. [PMID:
12379232 DOI:
10.1016/s0006-291x(02)02417-8]
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Abstract
Telomerase is a specialized reverse transcriptase responsible for maintaining the termini of linear chromosomes. The human enzyme is a ribonucleoprotein complex minimally comprising a catalytic protein moiety (hTERT) and an RNA subunit (hTR) which acts as the template for the reverse transcriptase reaction. Here we report expression of recombinant hTERT protein in insect cells utilizing a baculovirus expression system. The recombinant hTERT protein reconstitutes telomerase activity in the presence of hTR, either when co-expressed in insect cells or when added in vitro. Reconstitution of telomerase activity using this system will facilitate further analysis of the biochemical and biophysical properties of this enzyme.
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