BTE101 assignment on Telomere and telomerase For Professor Naiyyum Choudhury's class

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BTE 101
Introduction to Biotechnology and Genetic
Engineering
Professor Naiyyum Choudhury
Assignment 01: Telomere & Telomerase
Done by: Samiya Yesmin
I.D. 11304043
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Telomere & Telomerase

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What is a Telomere?
A telomere is a region of repetitive DNA sequence at the end of a
chromosome, which protects the end of the chromosome from
deterioration or from fusion with neighboring chromosomes.
The telomere regions deter the degradation of genes near the ends of
chromosomes by allowing for the shortening of chromosome ends,
which necessarily occurs during chromosome replication.
This is very important as otherwise viable information from the
chromosomes would be lost resulting in the formation of unviable cells
later thus changing the DNA.
What is a Telomerase?
Telomerase is an enzyme that adds DNA sequence repeats ("TTAGGG"
in all vertebrates) to the 3' end of DNA strands in the telomere regions,
which are found at the ends of eukaryotic chromosomes. This region of
repeated nucleotide called telomeres contains non-coding DNA
material and prevents constant loss of important DNA from
chromosome ends. As a result, every time the chromosome is copied
only 100-200 nucleotides are lost, which causes no damage to the
organism's DNA. Telomerase is a reverse transcriptase that carries its
own RNA molecule, which is used as a template when it elongates
telomeres, which are shortened after each replication cycle.
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How telomerase works?
1. During cell division, the DNA helix unwinds and separates to replicate. RNA primers
attach to both the now separated strands of the helix.
2. Both strands are then synthesized by DNA polymerase.
3. Leading strand (3'-5') is completely synthesized.
4. But lagging (5'-3') has a gap left at 3'end. This would shorten the chromosomes after
each round of cell division, eventually leading to a loss of information making new cells
unviable.
5. Enter Telomerase!
Telomerase contains:
1. RNA molecule template
2. Reverse transcriptase extend 3' end using the template.
6. This leaves behind six base tandom repeats called telomeres.
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7. The process is completed by normal lagging strand synthesis by DNA polymerase.
8. Thus protecting the genome from potential loss of information.
Telomere and Aging
Cellular aging is the process by which a cell becomes old and dies. It is due to the shortening of
chromosomal telomeres to the point that the chromosome reaches a critical length. Cellular
aging is analogous to a wind up clock. If the clock stays wound, a cell becomes immortal and
constantly produces new cells. If the clock winds down, the cell stops producing new cells and
dies. Our cells are constantly aging. Being able to make the body's cells live forever certainly
creates some exciting possibilities. Telomerase research could therefore yield important
discoveries related to the aging process.
This also raises the question of why longer telomeres are not selected for to ameliorate these
effects. A prominent explanation suggests that inheriting longer telomeres would cause
increased cancer rates (e.g. Weinstein and Ciszek, 2002). However, a recent literature review
and analysis suggests this is unlikely, because shorter telomeres and telomerase inactivation is
more often associated with increased cancer rates, and the mortality from cancer occurs late in
life when the force of natural selection is very low
Therefore as the body ages our cells lose some of their ability to regenerate and to perform the
functions they were designed to perform. Our hair turns gray, eyesight and hearing fade and
even our organs begin to deteriorate. Most scientists will tell you that the aging process is
brought about by changes in the proteins, lipids and nucleic acids such as DNA and RNA that
make up our cellular structure.
This aging process can be slowed down by introducing certain changes to aging cells, and when
those changes are introduced, the cells rejuvenate to the point that they function as if they
were much younger.
This is the tragedy that occurs on everyone's 25th birthday. That is from this point on every
time their cells replicate, the telomerase enzymes, that translate the information required to
replicate an identical youthful cell, are shortened--creating a loss in translation scenario that
which leads to cellular damage and ultimate cellular death a.k.a. Aging!
Telomerase is a new theory of aging that holds many promising possibilities for the field of antiaging medicine. It has been discovered that Telomerase enzymes are sequences of nucleic acids
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extending from the ends of our chromosomes and acting to maintain their integrity. Thus no
loss in translation and you stay youthful! 
Here's the scientific basis behind this amazing
discovery:
The role of telomerase appears to be manipulating the life of
the cell by presiding over the mechanism that controls how
long the cell lives. Some cancer researchers believe that the
creation of a targeted telomerase inhibitor may actually be
able to stop a cancer cell's ability to divide--thus stopping
the spread of cancer. It is even widely believed that
specialized telomerase enzymes might actually be able to
convert cancer cells back into normal cells!
Despite the fact there is continuous research going on in the
field of anti-aging, there has yet to be a consensus on the
actual cause of cellular deterioration that account for the
aging process.
Once of the most confounding issues faced by researchers is
the fact that the aging process is not predictable or uniform
across all of humanity. Each of us age differently based upon
our genetic makeup, degree of stress, dietary habits,
environment, etc. As a matter of fact the only thing all of us
share in common is the fact that we are all aging and all our
cells will eventually give out.
Some have actually taken the steps to extract active telomerase enzymes from live cultures
in order to create a supplement that brings science reality into the room NOW—the
modern Philosopher’s Stone!!
RENEUVE™ is such a paradigm-shifting product. It delivers the exact enzymes
that degrade past your 25th birthday. Thus you won’t have shorter telomeres.
And your cells can remain youthful! It's just like bringing a dying plant back to
life with just some water and fertilizer. RENEUVE™ is the "water and fertilizer"
that your cells need to flourish.
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Although this is just one of the first of its kind… and this science is relatively new, but we
could perhaps someday gain immortality!! :D
Anything could be possible!! Science is the key to hope!
Sources:
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Telomere
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Telomerase
http://www4.utsouthwestern.edu/cellbio/shay-wright/intro/facts/sw_facts.html
http://www.curebum.com/reneuve-telomerase-enzyme/
http://www.nature.com/news/2010/101128/full/news.2010.635.html
http://faculty.plattsburgh.edu/donald.slish/Telomerase.html
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