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      The Telomerase/Vault-Associated Protein Tep1 Is Required for Vault RNA Stability and Its Association with the Vault Particle

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          Abstract

          Vaults and telomerase are ribonucleoprotein (RNP) particles that share a common protein subunit, TEP1. Although its role in either complex has not yet been defined, TEP1 has been shown to interact with the mouse telomerase RNA and with several of the human vault RNAs in a yeast three-hybrid assay. An mTep1 −/− mouse was previously generated which resulted in no apparent change in telomere length or telomerase activity in six generations of mTep1-deficient mice. Here we show that the levels of the telomerase RNA and its association with the telomerase RNP are also unaffected in mTep1 / − mice. Although vaults purified from the livers of mTep1 −/− mice appear structurally intact by both negative stain and cryoelectron microscopy, three-dimensional reconstruction of the mTep1 −/− vault revealed less density in the cap than previously observed for the intact rat vault. Furthermore, the absence of TEP1 completely disrupted the stable association of the vault RNA with the purified vault particle and also resulted in a decrease in the levels and stability of the vault RNA. Therefore, we have uncovered a novel role for TEP1 in vivo as an integral vault protein important for the stabilization and recruitment of the vault RNA to the vault particle.

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          Most cited references41

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          A telomerase component is defective in the human disease dyskeratosis congenita.

          The X-linked form of the human disease dyskeratosis congenita (DKC) is caused by mutations in the gene encoding dyskerin. Sufferers have defects in highly regenerative tissues such as skin and bone marrow, chromosome instability and a predisposition to develop certain types of malignancy. Dyskerin is a putative pseudouridine synthase, and it has been suggested that DKC may be caused by a defect in ribosomal RNA processing. Here we show that dyskerin is associated not only with H/ACA small nucleolar RNAs, but also with human telomerase RNA, which contains an H/ACA RNA motif. Telomerase adds simple sequence repeats to chromosome ends using an internal region of its RNA as a template, and is required for the indefinite proliferation of primary human cells. We find that primary fibroblasts and lymphoblasts from DKC-affected males are not detectably deficient in conventional H/ACA small nucleolar RNA accumulation or function; however, DKC cells have a lower level of telomerase RNA, produce lower levels of telomerase activity and have shorter telomeres than matched normal cells. The pathology of DKC is consistent with compromised telomerase function leading to a defect in telomere maintenance, which may limit the proliferative capacity of human somatic cells in epithelia and blood.
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            Reconstitution of human telomerase with the template RNA component hTR and the catalytic protein subunit hTRT.

            The maintenance of chromosome termini, or telomeres, requires the action of the enzyme telomerase, as conventional DNA polymerases cannot fully replicate the ends of linear molecules. Telomerase is expressed and telomere length is maintained in human germ cells and the great majority of primary human tumours. However, telomerase is not detectable in most normal somatic cells; this corresponds to the gradual telomere loss observed with each cell division. It has been proposed that telomere erosion eventually signals entry into senescence or cell crisis and that activation of telomerase is usually required for immortal cell proliferation. In addition to the human telomerase RNA component (hTR; ref. 11), TR1/TLP1 (refs 12, 13), a protein that is homologous to the p80 protein associated with the Tetrahymena enzyme, has been identified in humans. More recently, the human telomerase reverse transcriptase (hTRT; refs 15, 16), which is homologous to the reverse transcriptase (RT)-like proteins associated with the Euplotes aediculatus (Ea_p123), Saccharomyces cerevisiae (Est2p) and Schizosaccharomyces pombe (5pTrt1) telomerases, has been reported to be a telomerase protein subunit. A catalytic function has been demonstrated for Est2p in the RT-like class but not for p80 or its homologues. We now report that in vitro transcription and translation of hTRT when co-synthesized or mixed with hTR reconstitutes telomerase activity that exhibits enzymatic properties like those of the native enzyme. Single amino-acid changes in conserved telomerase-specific and RT motifs reduce or abolish activity, providing direct evidence that hTRT is the catalytic protein component of telomerase. Normal human diploid cells transiently expressing hTRT possessed telomerase activity, demonstrating that hTRT is the limiting component necessary for restoration of telomerase activity in these cells. The ability to reconstitute telomerase permits further analysis of its biochemical and biological roles in cell aging and carcinogenesis.
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              Determination of the fold of the core protein of hepatitis B virus by electron cryomicroscopy.

              Hepatitis B virus, a major human pathogen with an estimated 300 million carriers worldwide, can lead to cirrhosis and liver cancer in cases of chronic infection. The virus consists of an inner nucleocapsid or core, surrounded by a lipid envelope containing virally encoded surface proteins. The core protein, when expressed in bacteria, assembles into core shell particles, closely resembling the native core of the virus. Here we use electron cryomicroscopy to solve the structure of the core protein to 7.4 A resolution. Images of about 6,400 individual particles from 34 micrographs at different levels of defocus were combined, imposing icosahedral symmetry. The three-dimensional map reveals the complete fold of the polypeptide chain, which is quite unlike previously solved viral capsid proteins and is largely alpha-helical. The dimer clustering of subunits produces spikes on the surface of the shell, which consist of radial bundles of four long alpha-helices. Our model implies that the sequence corresponding to the immunodominant region of the core protein lies at the tip of the spike and also explains other properties of the core protein.
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                Author and article information

                Contributors
                Journal
                J Cell Biol
                The Journal of Cell Biology
                The Rockefeller University Press
                0021-9525
                1540-8140
                8 January 2001
                : 152
                : 1
                : 157-164
                Affiliations
                [a ]Department of Biological Chemistry and Jonsson Comprehensive Cancer Center, Crump Institute for Molecular Imaging, University of California at Los Angeles, School of Medicine, Los Angeles, California 90095
                [b ]Department of Molecular and Medical Pharmacology, Crump Institute for Molecular Imaging, University of California at Los Angeles, School of Medicine, Los Angeles, California 90095
                [c ]Ontario Cancer Institute/Amgen Institute, Department of Medical Biophysics, University of Toronto, Toronto, Ontario M5G 2C1, Canada
                Article
                0008120
                10.1083/jcb.152.1.157
                2193651
                11149928
                52684811-a810-419d-a633-b50f55e8be0a
                © 2001 The Rockefeller University Press
                History
                : 23 August 2000
                : 2 November 2000
                : 8 November 2000
                Categories
                Original Article

                Cell biology
                rna stability,cryo-em,tep1,mouse embryonic stem cells,vaults
                Cell biology
                rna stability, cryo-em, tep1, mouse embryonic stem cells, vaults

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