Telomerase reverse transcriptase (abbreviated to TERT, or hTERT in humans) is a catalytic subunit of the enzymetelomerase, which, together with the telomerase RNA component (TERC), comprises the most important unit of the telomerase complex.[5][6]
Telomerases are part of a distinct subgroup of RNA-dependent polymerases. Telomerase lengthens telomeres in DNA strands, thereby allowing senescent cells that would otherwise become postmitotic and undergo apoptosis to exceed the Hayflick limit and become potentially immortal, as is often the case with cancerous cells. To be specific, TERT is responsible for catalyzing the addition of nucleotides in a TTAGGG sequence to the ends of a chromosome's telomeres.[7] This addition of repetitive DNA sequences prevents degradation of the chromosomal ends following multiple rounds of replication.[8]
^"Human PubMed Reference:". National Center for Biotechnology Information, U.S. National Library of Medicine.
^"Mouse PubMed Reference:". National Center for Biotechnology Information, U.S. National Library of Medicine.
^Weinrich SL, Pruzan R, Ma L, Ouellette M, Tesmer VM, Holt SE, et al. (December 1997). "Reconstitution of human telomerase with the template RNA component hTR and the catalytic protein subunit hTRT". Nature Genetics. 17 (4): 498–502. doi:10.1038/ng1297-498. PMID9398860. S2CID2558116.
^Kirkpatrick KL, Mokbel K (December 2001). "The significance of human telomerase reverse transcriptase (hTERT) in cancer". European Journal of Surgical Oncology. 27 (8): 754–60. doi:10.1053/ejso.2001.1151. PMID11735173.