Project description:Telomere homeostasis, crucial for various biological processes, relies on telomerase activity. We identified ZC3H15 as a novel telomerase-interacting protein. Its deletion unexpectedly increased telomerase activity but led to shortened telomeres and cellular senescence. ZC3H15 interacts with telomerase and itself, regulating telomerase activity in an RNA-dependent manner. Proximity labeling showed ZC3H15's interaction with proteins involved in organelle assembly and RNA processes. Loss of ZC3H15 sequestered TERC in the Cajal body, reducing telomerase recruitment to telomeres during S phase. These findings unveil ZC3H15's role in telomere dynamics and cellular senescence, suggesting its potential as a target for cancer therapy or anti-aging interventions.
Project description:Alternative Lengthening of Telomeres (ALT) cancer cells are a subset of cancers that depend on the homologous recombination mechanism to extend their telomere length independent of telomerase. ALT cells contain elevated levels of the telomeric-repeat containing long noncoding RNA (TERRA), which is an RNA transcribed by RNA polymerase II and can form RNA:DNA (R-loops) hybrids at telomeres. Lines of evidence have shown that the formation of R-loops at telomeres could be one of the mechanisms to trigger DNA repair to lengthen telomeres. We perform iDRiP-MS, a method to capture specific RNA interacting protein by UV light crosslinking using antisense probe capture (Chu et al., 2017a; Minajigi et al., 2015), to explore the TERRA interactomes in human ALT cancer cell. Our TERRA interactome data reveals that TERRA interacts with an extensive subset of DNA repair proteins in ALT cells including the endonuclease XPF, suggesting that TERRA R-loops activate DDR via XPF to promote homologous recombination and telomere replication to drive ALT.
Project description:Telomeres are the nucleoprotein structures found at the ends of eukaryotic chromosomes. Conventional DNA polymerases are unable to fully replicate the telomeric end of the chromosome, which leads to a progressive loss of DNA after every cell division. This problem is solved by the ribonucleoprotein enzyme, telomerase. Proper maintenance of the telomeric end is critical for maintaining genome integrity in eukaryotes. The telomerase enzyme has two essential components: the telomerase RNA (TR), which provides the template required for telomeric DNA synthesis; and the catalytic protein telomerase reverse transcriptase (TERT) that catalyzes the extension of the telomeric DNA ends using the TR as a template. The action of telomerase prevents the progressive shortening of the telomeres after every cell division. The TR can form a large structural scaffold upon which many accessory proteins can bind to and form the complete telomerase holoenzyme in vivo. These accessory proteins are required for telomerase activity and regulation inside of cells. The interacting partners of the TERT protein have been extensively characterized in yeast, human, and Tetrahymena systems. These interactors have not been extensively studied in lower eukaryotes including clinically relevant human parasites, such as Trypanosoma brucei (T. brucei). To this end, we performed co-immunoprecipitation coupled to LC-MS/MS of TbTERT-FLAG-HA-HA from T. brucei cells using an anti-TbTERT antibody and protein G magnetic beads. An isotype matched IgG control was performed in tandem. Comparisons of enriched proteins in the IP vs. IgG control revealed previously known and novel interactors of TbTERT. These findings suggest potential mechanistic differences in telomere maintenance in T. brucei compared to higher eukaryotes.
Project description:RNA-seq profiling of gene expression of human telomerase reverse transcriptase (hTERT)-expressing human cardiac mesenchymal stem cells.
Project description:Limited data exists regarding changes of microRNA (miRNA) expression during senescence in human cells and no reports correlate telomerase expression with regulation of senescence-related miRNAs. We used miRNA microarrays to provide a detailed account of miRNA profiles for early passage and senescent human foreskin (BJ) fibroblasts as well as early and late passage immortalized fibroblasts (BJ-hTERT) that stably express the human telomerase reverse transcriptase subunit hTERT. The revelation that miRNA expression changes with extended passaging in BJ-hTERT cells will contribute to a comprehensive understanding of the connections between telomerase expression, senescence and processes of cellular aging.
Project description:Ribonucleoprotein enzymes require specific and dynamic conformations of their RNA constituents for regulated catalysis. Telomerase RNA components (TRs) rely on two conserved domains, a pseudoknot/template sequence and a three-way junction (CR4/5), each of which binds the telomerase reverse transcriptase protein (TERT). Vertebrate TRs evolved a third element, the H/ACA domain, involved in assembly and trafficking of telomerase through binding telomerase cofactors, dyskerin and TCAB1, respectively. Here, we show that telomerase unexpectedly requires TCAB1 for enzyme catalysis and for shaping the conformation of the TR CR4/5 domain. Human and mouse cells lacking TCAB1 exhibit a marked reduction in telomerase activity, but show no defect in enzyme assembly. Instead, loss of TCAB1 causes specific unfolding of critical RNA helices in TR CR4/5 required for catalysis, and impairs TR-TERT association. CR4/5 mutations derived from patients with the telomere disorder dyskeratosis congenita phenocopy the loss of enzyme activity and disruption of TERT binding observed with TCAB1 deletion. These findings show that the H/ACA element acquired by telomerase during vertebrate evolution serves an unanticipated role in controlling folding of the essential TR CR4/5 domain, facilitating optimal TERT engagement and enabling telomerase catalysis through the action of TCAB1 protein tethered at the H/ACA domain.
2018-06-24 | GSE97486 | GEO
Project description:T.brucei small RNA interactome