Three TERT Genes in Nicotiana Tabacum

Overview

Journal Chromosome Res

Date 2012 May 1

PMID 22543812

Citations 8

Authors

Eva Sykorova

Jana Fulneckova

Petr Mokros

Jiri Fajkus

Miloslava Fojtova

Vratislav Peska

Affiliations

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Abstract

Telomerase is essential for proper functioning of telomeres in eukaryotes. We cloned and characterised genes for the protein subunit of telomerase (TERT) in the allotetraploid Nicotiana tabacum (tobacco) and its diploid progenitor species Nicotiana sylvestris and Nicotiana tomentosiformis with the aim of determining if allopolyploidy (hybridisation and genome duplication) influences TERT activity and divergence. Two of the three sequence variants present in the tobacco genome (NtTERT-C/s and NtTERT-D) revealed similarity to two sequence variants found in N. sylvestris and another variant (NtTERT-C/t) was similar to TERT of N. tomentosiformis. Variants of N. sylvestris origin showed less similarity to each other (80.5 % in the genomic region; 90.1 % in the coding sequence) than that between the NtTERT-C/s and NtTERT-C/t variants (93.6 and 97.2 %, respectively). The NtTERT-D variant was truncated at the 5' end, and indels indicated that it was a pseudogene. All tobacco variants were transcribed and alternatively spliced sequences were detected. Analysis of gene arrangements uncovered a novel exon in the N-terminal domain of TERT variants, a feature that is likely to be commonly found in Solanaceae species. In addition, species-specific duplications were observed within exon 5. The putative function, copy number and evolutionary origin of these NtTERT sequence variants are discussed.

Citing Articles

Origin and Fates of Gene Copies in Polyploid Plants.

Fajkus P, Peska V, Fajkus J, Sykorova E Int J Mol Sci. 2021; 22(4).

PMID: 33670111 PMC: 7916837. DOI: 10.3390/ijms22041783.

Composition and Function of Telomerase-A Polymerase Associated with the Origin of Eukaryotes.

Prochazkova Schrumpfova P, Fajkus J Biomolecules. 2020; 10(10).

PMID: 33050064 PMC: 7658794. DOI: 10.3390/biom10101425.

Telomerase RNAs in land plants.

Fajkus P, Peska V, Zavodnik M, Fojtova M, Fulneckova J, Dobias S Nucleic Acids Res. 2019; 47(18):9842-9856.

PMID: 31392988 PMC: 6765143. DOI: 10.1093/nar/gkz695.

Telomeres in Plants and Humans: Not So Different, Not So Similar.

Prochazkova Schrumpfova P, Fojtova M, Fajkus J Cells. 2019; 8(1).

PMID: 30654521 PMC: 6356271. DOI: 10.3390/cells8010058.

Tissue-specific expression of telomerase reverse transcriptase gene variants in Nicotiana tabacum.

Jureckova J, Sykorova E, Hafidh S, Honys D, Fajkus J, Fojtova M Planta. 2016; 245(3):549-561.

PMID: 27900472 DOI: 10.1007/s00425-016-2624-1.

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