| First Author | Blasco MA | Year | 1997 |
| Journal | Cell | Volume | 91 |
| Issue | 1 | Pages | 25-34 |
| PubMed ID | 9335332 | Mgi Jnum | J:43517 |
| Mgi Id | MGI:1097832 | Doi | 10.1016/s0092-8674(01)80006-4 |
| Citation | Blasco MA, et al. (1997) Telomere shortening and tumor formation by mouse cells lacking telomerase RNA. Cell 91(1):25-34 |
| abstractText | To examine the role of telomerase in normal and neoplastic growth, the telomerase RNA component (mTR) was deleted from the mouse germline. mTR-/- mice lacked detectable telomerase activity yet were viable for the six generations analyzed. Telomerase-deficient cells could be immortalized in culture, transformed by viral oncogenes, and generated tumors in nude mice following transformation. Telomeres were shown to shorten at a rate of 4.8+/-2.4 kb per mTR-/- generation. Cells from the fourth mTR-/- generation onward possessed chromosome ends lacking detectable telomere repeats, aneuploidy, and chromosomal abnormalities, including end-to-end fusions. These results indicate that telomerase is essential for telomere length maintenance but is not required for establishment of cell lines, oncogenic transformation, or tumor formation in mice. |
