| Research Abstract |
New findings of this project are 1) telomerase was partially purified from porcine testis to a few protein bands on acrylamidegel electrophoresis, but, since cDNA (hTERT) cloning of assumed catalytic subunit of telomerase has been reported by other reserchers (Aug. 1 997), we abandoned cloning project through protein, purification, 2) expression of hTERT mRNA was found to be correlated with presence 0f telomerase activity, 3) telomerase-negative human fibroblasts expressed telomerase activity after transfection with hTERT cDNA, 4) these telomerase positive human fibroblasts extended both telomere length and proliferative lifespan, but they did not immortalized, 5) telomerase-negative human fibroblasts transformed with SV40 T-antigen also expressed telomerase activity after. transfection with hTERT cDNA, 6) these telomerase-positive SV4O-transformed human fibroblasts extended both telomere length and proliferative lifespan, and they immortalized.
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