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KMID : 0368420050480020209
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Journal of Plant Biology
2005 Volume.48 No. 2 p.209 ~ p.219
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A possible mrna splicing mechanism for regulation of telomerase activity in rice (Oryza sativa L.)
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Chung Hee
Hishinuma Rie
Ando Sugihiro
Sakai Shingo
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Abstract
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The mechanism of telomerase regulation is far better understood in mammalian systems than it is in plant systems. In this study, we investigated the possibility that regulation of telomerase activity occurs at the post-transcriptional level in rice plants (Oryza sativa). Specifically, we used RT-PCR with primers based on the rice telomerase reverse transcriptase (OsTERT) cDNA sequence to detect alternative mRNA splicing products. Five types of DNA product that were shorter than predicted by the cDNA sequence were observed for all the tested cells and tissues. Sequencing of these products indicated that they were alternatively splicedOsTERT fragments lacking some portions of the full-length sequence. These results suggest that regulation of telomerase activity occurs at the post-transcriptional level in rice cells and tissues. The relative amounts of full-lengthOsTERT mRNA and the shorter, alternatively spliced mRNAs were estimated by quantitative RT-Southern analysis. No correlation was found between levels of telomerase activity and accumulation of full-lengthOsTERT mRNA in the various cell and tissue types, indicating that splicing ofOsTERT mRNAs may be important in telomerase regulation in rice. Further studies are necessary to determine whether the splicedOsTERT mRNAs are translated into proteins and if these putative proteins affect telomerase activity.
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KEYWORD
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alternative splicing, OsTERT, post-transcription, rice, telomerase
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