Klapper W, Heidorn K, Kühne K, Parwaresch R, Krupp G
Institute for Hematopathology, Center for Pathology and Applied Cancer Research, Christian-Albrechts-Universität Kiel, Germany.
FEBS Lett. 1998 Sep 4;434(3):409-12. doi: 10.1016/s0014-5793(98)01020-5.
Eukaryotic chromosome termini consist of telomeres, short sequence repeats. According to the telomere hypothesis, DNA replication leads to telomere shortening, resulting in a cellular mitotic clock. Telomerase resets it by telomere synthesis. In mammals with a limited growth phase, telomerase activity in somatic tissues is restricted to stem cell derivatives with high proliferation potential. But other animals, like some fish, grow throughout their life with little senescence. All somatic cells require a high proliferation capacity and telomerase should be active in all cells, irrespective of fish age. Indeed, we detected high telomerase activities in all analyzed organs of rainbow trout (Oncorhynchus mykiss).
真核生物染色体末端由端粒组成，端粒是短序列重复片段。根据端粒假说，DNA复制会导致端粒缩短，从而形成细胞有丝分裂时钟。端粒酶通过端粒合成来重置它。在生长阶段有限的哺乳动物中，体细胞组织中的端粒酶活性仅限于具有高增殖潜力的干细胞衍生物。但其他动物，如一些鱼类，终生生长且几乎没有衰老现象。所有体细胞都需要高增殖能力，并且无论鱼的年龄如何，端粒酶都应在所有细胞中具有活性。事实上，我们在虹鳟（Oncorhynchus mykiss）的所有分析器官中都检测到了高活性的端粒酶。
