Interactions between telomerase and primase physically link the telomere and chromosome replication machinery.

ABSTRACT: In the ciliate Euplotes crassus, millions of new telomeres are synthesized by telomerase and polymerase alpha-primase during macronuclear development in mated cells. Concomitant with de novo telomere formation, telomerase assembles into higher-order complexes of 550 kDa, 1,600 kDa, and 5 MDa. We show here that telomerase is physically associated with the lagging-strand replication machinery in these complexes. Antibodies against DNA primase precipitated telomerase activity from all three complexes from mated cells but not the 280-kDa telomerase complex from vegetatively growing cells. Moreover, when telomerase was affinity purified, primase copurified with enzyme from mated cells but not with the 280-kDa vegetative complex. Thus, the association of telomerase and primase is developmentally

SUBMITTER: Ray S 

PROVIDER: S-EPMC133977 | biostudies-literature | 2002 Aug

REPOSITORIES: biostudies-literature