Cancer Research Unit, Children's Medical Research Institute, Westmead, New South Wales, Australia.
Genes Dev. 2013 Jan 1;27(1):18-23. doi: 10.1101/gad.205062.112.
Some cancers use alternative lengthening of telomeres (ALT), a mechanism whereby new telomeric DNA is synthesized from a DNA template. To determine whether normal mammalian tissues have ALT activity, we generated a mouse strain containing a DNA tag in a single telomere. We found that the tagged telomere was copied by other telomeres in somatic tissues but not the germline. The tagged telomere was also copied by other telomeres when introgressed into CAST/EiJ mice, which have telomeres more similar in length to those of humans. We conclude that ALT activity occurs in normal mouse somatic tissues.
有些癌症利用端粒的替代延长(ALT),这是一种从 DNA 模板合成新端粒 DNA 的机制。为了确定正常哺乳动物组织是否具有 ALT 活性,我们生成了一种在单个端粒中包含 DNA 标记的小鼠品系。我们发现,在体细胞组织中,标记的端粒被其他端粒复制,但在生殖系中没有。当将标记的端粒导入具有与人类端粒更相似长度的 CAST/EiJ 小鼠中时,该端粒也被其他端粒复制。我们的结论是,ALT 活性发生在正常的小鼠体细胞组织中。