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Distribution of TTAGG-specific telomerase activity in insects

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Abstract

In most eukaryotes, telomeres consist of tandem arrays of a short repetitive DNA sequence. Insect telomeres are generally constituted by a (TTAGG)n repeat motif. Usually, telomeres are maintained by telomerase, a specialized reverse transcriptase that adds this sequence to chromosome ends. We examined telomerase activity in 15 species across Insecta. Telomerase activity was revealed in Isoptera, Blattaria, Lepidoptera, Hymenoptera, Trichoptera, Coleoptera, and Sternorrhyncha. In contrast, we were not able to detect telomerase activity in Orthoptera, Zygentoma, and Phasmida. Because we found telomerase activity in phylogenetically distant species, we conclude that a distribution pattern of (TTAGG)n sequence in Insecta is generally consistent with that of telomerase activity. Thus, the TTAGG-telomerase system is functional across the Insecta. Using real-time quantitative telomeric repeat amplification protocol (RTQ-TRAP) system, we quantified telomerase activity in different developmental stages and different tissues of a cockroach, Periplaneta americana. We show that telomerase is upregulated in young instars and gradually declines during development. In adults, it is most active in testes and ovaries. Thus, the telomerase activity of hemimetabolous insects seems to be associated with cell proliferation and organismal development.

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Abbreviations

TERT:

Telomerase reverse transcriptase (TERT)

TRAP:

Telomeric repeat amplification protocol

RTQ-TRAP:

Real-time quantitative TRAP

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Acknowledgments

We are grateful to James Mason for critical review of the manuscript, Aleš Bezděk, Jan Šobotník, Petr Doležal, and David Boukal, who provided us with live materials. This work was supported by the Grant No. 14-07172S from the Grant Agency of the Czech Republic. We acknowledge the use of research infrastructure that has received funding from the European Union Seventh Framework Programme (FP7/2007-2013) under grant agreement No. 316304. Additional support was provided from Grant 052/2013/P of the Grant Agency of the University of South Bohemia.

Ethical standards

The authors declare that all experiments performed in this study comply with the current laws of the Czech Republic. All institutional and national guidelines for the care and use of laboratory animals were followed.

Conflict of interest

Michala Korandová, Tomáš Krůček, Kristýna Vrbová, and Radmila Čapková Frydrychová declare that they have no conflict of interest.

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. Faculty of Science, University of South Bohemia, České Budějovice, Czech Republic

    Michala Korandová, Tomáš Krůček & Kristýna Vrbová

  2. Biology Centre AS CR, Institute of Entomology, Branišovská 31, 37005, České Budějovice, Czech Republic

    Tomáš Krůček & Radmila Čapková Frydrychová

Authors
  1. Michala Korandová
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  2. Tomáš Krůček
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  3. Kristýna Vrbová
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  4. Radmila Čapková Frydrychová
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Correspondence to Radmila Čapková Frydrychová.

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Responsible Editor: Rachel O'Neill

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Korandová, M., Krůček, T., Vrbová, K. et al. Distribution of TTAGG-specific telomerase activity in insects. Chromosome Res 22, 495–503 (2014). https://doi.org/10.1007/s10577-014-9436-6

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  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s10577-014-9436-6

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