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Organismal propagation in the absence of a functional telomerase pathway in Caenorhabditis elegans
Author(s) -
Lackner Daniel H,
Raices Marcela,
Maruyama Hugo,
Haggblom Candy,
Karlseder Jan
Publication year - 2012
Publication title -
the embo journal
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
SCImago Journal Rank - 7.484
H-Index - 392
eISSN - 1460-2075
pISSN - 0261-4189
DOI - 10.1038/emboj.2012.61
Subject(s) - caenorhabditis elegans , biology , experimental biology , library science , computational biology , genetics , computer science , gene
To counteract replication‐dependent telomere shortening most eukaryotic cells rely on the telomerase pathway, which is crucial for the maintenance of proliferative potential of germ and stem cell populations of multicellular organisms. Likewise, cancer cells usually engage the telomerase pathway for telomere maintenance to gain immortality. However, in ∼10% of human cancers telomeres are maintained through telomerase‐independent alternative lengthening of telomeres (ALT) pathways. Here, we describe the generation and characterization of C. elegans survivors in a strain lacking the catalytic subunit of telomerase and the nematode telomere‐binding protein CeOB2. These clonal strains, some of which have been propagated for >180 generations, represent the first example of a multicellular organism with canonical telomeres that can survive without a functional telomerase pathway. The animals display the heterogeneous telomere length characteristic for ALT cells, contain single‐stranded C‐circles, a transcription profile pointing towards an adaptation to chronic stress and are therefore a unique and valuable tool to decipher the ALT mechanism.