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Studies of telomere maintenance mechanisms in Naumovozyma castellii and analysis of RAD52 dependence in the absence of telomerase

Islam, Zubaida Marufee (2019) MOBN03 20182
Degree Projects in Molecular Biology
Popular Abstract
Maintenance of telomeres in the absence of telomerase

The specialized DNA-protein caps that prevent the loss of genes at the ends of the DNA strands are called telomeres. The telomeres consist of several short-repeated DNA sequences which need to be protected to prevent telomere shortening. Telomere shortening has been connected to the aging process of cells. Some cells can reverse this shortening process with the help of the enzyme telomerase, while the others rely on genes involved in recombination-mediated process to prevent telomere shortening when telomerase is absent in the cell.

But what happens if this telomerase is absent in the cells?

We answered this question in our lab by utilizing previously developed cells that do... (More)
Maintenance of telomeres in the absence of telomerase

The specialized DNA-protein caps that prevent the loss of genes at the ends of the DNA strands are called telomeres. The telomeres consist of several short-repeated DNA sequences which need to be protected to prevent telomere shortening. Telomere shortening has been connected to the aging process of cells. Some cells can reverse this shortening process with the help of the enzyme telomerase, while the others rely on genes involved in recombination-mediated process to prevent telomere shortening when telomerase is absent in the cell.

But what happens if this telomerase is absent in the cells?

We answered this question in our lab by utilizing previously developed cells that do not carry functional telomerase to maintain their telomeres. We also targeted genes that help in telomere maintenance in the absence of telomerase and deleted one of them which was RAD52 from the cell as well. Then we monitored the survival rate and growth of those cells.

Interestingly, the results showed that in the presence of functional telomerase, the cells do not require assistance of our deleted gene RAD52 to maintain their telomeres. But in the absence of telomerase, that gene becomes quite essential.

The broader objective of the study was to see the molecular mechanism of telomere maintenance in our model organism Naumovozyma castellii. However, there are reports on the most common yeast Saccharomyces cerevisiae growing without telomerase and RAD52 with elongated telomeres. So, in future we would also like to see whether our model organism exhibits something similar as S. cerevisiae.

Master’s Degree Project Molecular Biology 60 credits 2019
Department of Biology, Lund University

Advisor: Marita Cohn
Advisors Unit/Department: Molecular cell biology, Genetics group (Less)
Please use this url to cite or link to this publication:
author
Islam, Zubaida Marufee
supervisor
organization
course
MOBN03 20182
year
type
H2 - Master's Degree (Two Years)
subject
language
English
id
8990556
date added to LUP
2019-07-10 11:21:10
date last changed
2019-07-10 11:21:10
@misc{8990556,
  author       = {{Islam, Zubaida Marufee}},
  language     = {{eng}},
  note         = {{Student Paper}},
  title        = {{Studies of telomere maintenance mechanisms in Naumovozyma castellii and analysis of RAD52 dependence in the absence of telomerase}},
  year         = {{2019}},
}