Cheong Cheolho, Hong Kyung Uk, Lee Han-Woong
Samsung Biomedical Research Institute, Department of Molecular Cell Biology, Sungkyunkwan University School of Medicine, Suwon 440-746, Korea.
Exp Mol Med. 2003 Jun 30;35(3):141-53. doi: 10.1038/emm.2003.20.
Telomeres serve a critical role in maintenance of genomic stability in all eukaryotes, from yeast to human. The maintenance of telomeres is achieved by the telomerase complex, which is largely composed of telomerase reverse transcriptase (TERT) and telomerase RNA component (TERC). A variety of mouse models have provided valuable insights into the relationship between the telomerase complex and telomere dysfunction at the organismal level and helped understand their biological significance in human. Recently, in addition to its role in maintenance of the telomeres, novel functions of the telomerase complex have been emerging. In this review, studies of all gene-targeted or transgenic mouse models so far generated for telomerase and telomere biology are comprehensively described, and potential novel functions of telomerase are briefly discussed.
端粒在从酵母到人类的所有真核生物的基因组稳定性维持中发挥着关键作用。端粒的维持是通过端粒酶复合物实现的，该复合物主要由端粒酶逆转录酶（TERT）和端粒酶RNA组分（TERC）组成。多种小鼠模型为在生物体水平上端粒酶复合物与端粒功能障碍之间的关系提供了有价值的见解，并有助于理解它们在人类中的生物学意义。最近，除了其在维持端粒方面的作用外，端粒酶复合物的新功能也不断涌现。在这篇综述中，全面描述了迄今为止针对端粒酶和端粒生物学构建的所有基因靶向或转基因小鼠模型的研究，并简要讨论了端粒酶潜在的新功能。
