Telomere – BioQuakes

Telomerase. They know what it is. They know what it does. They know it is involved with the formation of malignant tumors. Yet for years, cancer researchers could not figure out a way to curb telomerase activity. Not until recently, when a group of researchers at the University of California, Santa Cruz discovered an important structural component of telomerase that could lead to the development of new and more efficient cancer treatment medications.

But first things first: what even is telomerase? To understand the role of telomerase, we must first understand what a telomere is. Analogous to the “plastic tips of shoelaces”, telomeres are located at the tips of chromosomes to keep the ends of DNA from “fraying”, consisting of the repetition of the same nitrogenous base sequence over and over again. In humans, this base sequence is TTAGGG.

(Source: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Telomere#/media/File:Telomere.png)

The sequence can be up to 15,000 base pairs long; however, each time a cell divides, the telomeres get shorter and shorter until they become they become too small to divide again. That is when the telomerase comes in; it adds nucelotides to the telomere to prevent it from becoming senescent, or at least prolong the cell’s life span.

Sounds like a good thing, right? Not when the telomerase gets out of control and does not allow for cells to die, causing a huge growth of cells that eventually evolve into malignant tumors.

What makes it hard for scientists to combat excessive telomerase activity is due to the enzyme’s unique and complex structure. In addition to its sophisticated quaternary structure, telomerase also has an RNA template that allows the telomerase to make the DNA bases (TTAGGG) for the telomere.

(Source: https://vi.wikipedia.org/wiki/Telomerase#/media/File:Telomerase_illustration.jpg)

Researchers at UC Santa Cruz determined the structure of the RNA binding domain of telomerase and how the template border is dependent on how the protein and RNA components interact with each other. Understanding this interaction can help scientists develop cancer medications that more specifically inhibit telomerase. This is the first major advancement in telomerase research since November of 2010 when biochemists at UCLA created an unprecedented 3D model of telomerase’s RNA structure.

While this discovery is a major step forward in cancer treatment research, some experts have their reservations against finding methods of inhibiting telomerase altogether.

However, regardless of the controversy surrounding telomerase inhibition in cancer treatment, this discovery will be useful in coming up with tactics to prevent aging, and improve treatments in other medical fields, such as burns, bone marrow transplants, and heart disease.

What do you think? Leave a comment below!

Original Article

Sit less, Live longer

By izotope

On September 24, 2014

In Student Post

Many jobs involve sitting all day

People tend to spend most of their days sitting. Despite maybe an hour or two spent at the gym, people are sedentary for a majority of their day. Two studies were performed, one showing that sitting less can slow cells from aging. The other found that standing up, even if your not moving, can be beneficial.

Past studies show that sitting for hours makes a person more likely to develop diabetes, have heart disease, and even die prematurely.

Scientists in Sweden wanted to find out why sitting and illness were linked so they created an experiment altering the time people were sitting or exercising and tracked their physiological results. They focused on the people’s telomere changes. They then compared these telomere lengths to the length of obese, sedentary men and women telomeres. These volunteers then were instructed to exercise and sit less. After six months, the researchers found that their telomeres had lengthened; this means that the cells were getting physiologically younger.

In conclusion, the telomeres shortened much more in response to reduction of sedentary time than to exercising. This means that just be sitting less, one can avoid aging, and other illnesses. Another experiment preformed by Dr. Katzmarzyk found that standing, not even moving, dropped mortality rates. This suggests that standing is not inactive or dangerous, but rather beneficial.

I found this article very interesting to me because I am very active in sports, but I also am sitting a lot in school. I want to know whether the amount of sitting I am doing is greater than my exercise, causing me to age more in the long run. I think it is more important that we are active in school, despite the fact that most of us do after school sports.

image source:

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Occupational_stress

article source:

http://well.blogs.nytimes.com/2014/09/17/sit-less-live-longer/

other sources:

http://www4.utsouthwestern.edu/cellbio/shay-wright/intro/facts/sw_facts.html

http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/24152707

Telomere the Tell all?

By arthenice

On March 12, 2013

In Student Post

Scientists have recently discovered that they can predict life expectancy based on the length of the telomere in patients with heart disease. Telomeres which are protective, non coding regions at the ends of chromosomes get shorter over time due to cell division. The replication of DNA shortens our telomeres and our chromosomes. This makes us more susceptible to age-related “diseases such as heart disease or cancer, as well as exposure to oxidative damage from stress, smoking, air pollution, or conditions that accelerate biologic aging.” (http://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2013/03/130310164232.htm)Telomere length used to be used to show age in a person but recently it also seems to be correlated with their chance of survival with heart disease. In a study conducted with 3,500 heart attack and stroke patients, researchers stated that those with longer telomeres had a greater chance of survival. In the future doctors believe that judging from the telomeres in patients, they could increase their effectiveness in treating heart disease.

BioQuakes

AP Biology class blog for discussing current research in Biology

Tag: Telomere

New Understanding in Telomerase Structure: Can It Lead to New Cancer Treatment Medications?

Sit less, Live longer

Telomere the Tell all?

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