TERRA in biology is an abbreviation for "TElomeric Repeat-containing RNA". TERRA is RNA that is transcribed from telomeres — the repeating 6-nucleotide sequences that cap the ends of chromosomes. TERRA functions with shelterin to inhibit telomere lengthening by enzyme telomerase. However, other studies have shown that under certain conditions TERRA can recruit telomerase to telomeres.
TERRAs are essential for telomere length and maintenance. At least four factors contribute to telomere maintenance: telomerase, shelterin, TERRA and the CST Complex.
TERRA can also regulate telomere length by increasing euchromatin formation. On the other hand, nonsense-mediated decay factor enrichment at telomeres may exist to prevent TERRA inhibition of telomerase. TERRA levels vary during the cell cycle, decreasing during S phase, and increasing in the transition from G2 phase to G1 phase.
References
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- ^ Zhu Y, Liu X, Geng X (2019). "Telomere and its role in the aging pathways: telomere shortening, cell senescence and mitochondria dysfunction". Biogerontology. 20 (1): 1–16. doi:10.1007/s10522-018-9769-1. PMID 30229407.
- Montero JJ, López-Silanes I, Megías D, F Fraga M, Castells-García Á, Blasco MA (2018). "TERRA recruitment of polycomb to telomeres is essential for histone trymethylation marks at telomeric heterochromatin". Nature Communications. 9 (1): 1548. Bibcode:2018NatCo...9.1548M. doi:10.1038/s41467-018-03916-3. PMC 5906467. PMID 29670078.
- Giraud-Panis MJ, Teixeira MT, Géli V, Gilson E (2010). "CST meets shelterin to keep telomeres in check". Molecular Cell. 39 (5): 665–676. doi:10.1016/j.molcel.2010.08.024. PMID 20832719.
- ^ Wang C, Zhao L, Lu S (2015). "Role of TERRA in the regulation of telomere length". International Journal of Biological Sciences. 11 (3): 316–323. doi:10.7150/ijbs.10528. PMC 4323371. PMID 25678850.