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Regulation of murine telomere length by Rtel: an essential gene encoding a helicase-like protein.
Regulation of murine telomere length by Rtel: an essential gene encoding a helicase-like protein.
- Source :
-
Cell [Cell] 2004 Jun 25; Vol. 117 (7), pp. 873-86. - Publication Year :
- 2004
-
Abstract
- Little is known about the genes that regulate telomere length diversity between mammalian species. A candidate gene locus was previously mapped to a region on distal mouse Chr 2q. Within this region, we identified a gene similar to the dog-1 DNA helicase-like gene in C. elegans. We cloned this Regulator of telomere length (Rtel) gene and inactivated its expression in mice. Rtel(-/-) mice died between days 10 and 11.5 of gestation with defects in the nervous system, heart, vasculature, and extraembryonic tissues. Rtel(-/-) embryonic stem cells showed telomere loss and displayed many chromosome breaks and fusions upon differentiation in vitro. Crosses of Rtel(+/-) mice with Mus spretus showed that Rtel from the Mus musculus parent is required for telomere elongation of M. spretus chromosomes in F1 cells. We conclude that Rtel is an essential gene that regulates telomere length and prevents genetic instability.
- Subjects :
- Abnormalities, Multiple
Alternative Splicing
Amino Acid Motifs
Amino Acid Sequence
Animals
Cell Differentiation
Chromosome Aberrations
Chromosome Mapping
Conserved Sequence
Crosses, Genetic
DNA Helicases chemistry
Exons
Gene Expression
Gene Expression Regulation, Developmental
Genes, Regulator
Mice
Mice, Knockout
Mice, Mutant Strains
Models, Biological
Molecular Sequence Data
Muridae genetics
Protein Structure, Tertiary
Recombination, Genetic
Sequence Homology, Amino Acid
Stem Cells cytology
Tissue Distribution
DNA Helicases genetics
Genes, Essential
Telomere
Subjects
Details
- Language :
- English
- ISSN :
- 0092-8674
- Volume :
- 117
- Issue :
- 7
- Database :
- MEDLINE
- Journal :
- Cell
- Publication Type :
- Academic Journal
- Accession number :
- 15210109
- Full Text :
- https://doi.org/10.1016/j.cell.2004.05.026