Clonal inactivation of TERT impairs stem cell competition.

ABSTRACT: Telomerase is intimately associated with stem cells and cancer, because it catalytically elongates telomeres-nucleoprotein caps that protect chromosome ends¹. Overexpression of telomerase reverse transcriptase (TERT) enhances the proliferation of cells in a telomere-independent manner^2-8, but so far, loss-of-function studies have provided no evidence that TERT has a direct role in stem cell function. In many tissues, homeostasis is shaped by stem cell competition, a process in which stem cells compete on the basis of inherent fitness. Here we show that conditional deletion of Tert in the spermatogonial stem cell (SSC)-containing population in mice markedly impairs competitive clone formation. Using lineage tracing from the Tert locus, we find that TERT-expressing SSCs

SUBMITTER: Hasegawa K 

PROVIDER: S-EPMC11291281 | biostudies-literature | 2024 Jul

REPOSITORIES: biostudies-literature