Telomerase RNA is more than a DNA template

ABSTRACTThe addition of telomeric DNA to chromosome ends is an essential cellular activity that compensates for the loss of genomic DNA that is due to the inability of the conventional DNA replication apparatus to duplicate the entire chromosome. The telomerase reverse transcriptase and its associated RNA bind to the very end of the telomere via a sequence in the RNA and specific protein-protein interactions. Telomerase RNA also provides the template for addition of new telomeric repeats by the reverse-transcriptase protein subunit. In addition to the template, there are 3 other conserved regions in telomerase RNA that are essential for normal telomerase activity. Here we briefly review the conserved core regions of telomerase RNA and then focus on a recent study in fission yeast that determined the function of another conserved region in telomerase RNA called the Stem Terminus Element (STE).1 The STE is distant from the templating core of telomerase in both the linear and RNA secondary structure, but, no...