title: Leishmania major telomerase TERT protein has a nuclear/mitochondrial eclipsed distribution that is affected by oxidative stress.
abstract: In its canonical role the reverse transcriptase telomerase recovers the telomeric repeats that are lost during DNA replication. Other locations and activities have been recently described for the telomerase protein subunit TERT in mammalian cells. In the present work, using biochemistry, molecular biology, and electron microscopy techniques, we found that in the human parasite Leishmania major, TERT (and telomerase activity) shared locations between the nuclear, mitochondrial, and cytoplasmic compartments. Also, some telomerase activity and TERT protein could be found in ∼ 100-nm nanovesicles. In the mitochondrial compartment, TERT appears to be mainly associated with the kinetoplast DNA. When Leishmania cells were exposed to H2O2, TERT changed its relative abundance and activity between the nuclear and mitochondrial compartments, with the majority of activity residing in the mitochondrion. Finally, overexpression of TERT in Leishmania transfected cells not only increased the parasitic cell growth rate but also increased their resistance to oxidative stress.
authors.affiliation: Instituto de Estudios Avanzados, Centro de Biotecnologia, MppEUCT, Caracas, Venezuela.
authors.forename: Riward
authors.initials: R
authors.lastname: Campelo
authors.affiliation: Molecular Parasitology Research Group, Institute of Biotechnology, Department of Parasitology, Faculty of Science, University of Granada, Granada, Spain.
authors.forename: Isabel
authors.initials: I
authors.lastname: Díaz Lozano
authors.affiliation: Instituto de Estudios Avanzados, Centro de Biotecnologia, MppEUCT, Caracas, Venezuela.
authors.forename: Katherine
authors.initials: K
authors.lastname: Figarella
authors.affiliation: Molecular Parasitology Research Group, Institute of Biotechnology, Department of Parasitology, Faculty of Science, University of Granada, Granada, Spain.
authors.forename: Antonio
authors.initials: A
authors.lastname: Osuna
authors.affiliation: Instituto de Estudios Avanzados, Centro de Biotecnologia, MppEUCT, Caracas, Venezuela United Nations University Biotechnology Programme for Latin America and the Caribbean, Caracas, Venezuela ramjoseluis@gmail.com.
authors.forename: José Luis
authors.initials: JL
authors.lastname: Ramírez
mesh_terms: D002467:Cell Nucleus / Q000201:enzymology*; D003593:Cytoplasm / Q000201:enzymology; D018320:Leishmania major / Q000201:enzymology*; D008928:Mitochondria / Q000201:enzymology*; D018384:Oxidative Stress; D019098:Telomerase / Q000032:analysis*
chemical_list: D019098:Telomerase