7BG9

The catalytic core lobe of human telomerase in complex with a telomeric DNA substrate


Experimental Data Snapshot

  • Method: ELECTRON MICROSCOPY
  • Resolution: 3.80 Å
  • Aggregation State: PARTICLE 
  • Reconstruction Method: SINGLE PARTICLE 

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This is version 1.3 of the entry. See complete history


Literature

Structure of human telomerase holoenzyme with bound telomeric DNA.

Ghanim, G.E.Fountain, A.J.van Roon, A.M.Rangan, R.Das, R.Collins, K.Nguyen, T.H.D.

(2021) Nature 593: 449-453

  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1038/s41586-021-03415-4
  • Primary Citation of Related Structures:  
    7BG9, 7BGB

  • PubMed Abstract: 

    Telomerase adds telomeric repeats at chromosome ends to compensate for the telomere loss that is caused by incomplete genome end replication 1 . In humans, telomerase is upregulated during embryogenesis and in cancers, and mutations that compromise the function of telomerase result in disease 2 . A previous structure of human telomerase at a resolution of 8 Å revealed a vertebrate-specific composition and architecture 3 , comprising a catalytic core that is flexibly tethered to an H and ACA (hereafter, H/ACA) box ribonucleoprotein (RNP) lobe by telomerase RNA. High-resolution structural information is necessary to develop treatments that can effectively modulate telomerase activity as a therapeutic approach against cancers and disease. Here we used cryo-electron microscopy to determine the structure of human telomerase holoenzyme bound to telomeric DNA at sub-4 Å resolution, which reveals crucial DNA- and RNA-binding interfaces in the active site of telomerase as well as the locations of mutations that alter telomerase activity. We identified a histone H2A-H2B dimer within the holoenzyme that was bound to an essential telomerase RNA motif, which suggests a role for histones in the folding and function of telomerase RNA. Furthermore, this structure of a eukaryotic H/ACA RNP reveals the molecular recognition of conserved RNA and protein motifs, as well as interactions that are crucial for understanding the molecular pathology of many mutations that cause disease. Our findings provide the structural details of the assembly and active site of human telomerase, which paves the way for the development of therapeutic agents that target this enzyme.


  • Organizational Affiliation

    Medical Research Council Laboratory of Molecular Biology, Cambridge, UK.


Macromolecules

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Entity ID: 1
MoleculeChains Sequence LengthOrganismDetailsImage
Telomerase reverse transcriptase,Telomerase reverse transcriptase1,332Homo sapiensMutation(s): 0 
Gene Names: TERTEST2TCS1TRT
EC: 2.7.7.49
UniProt & NIH Common Fund Data Resources
Find proteins for O14746 (Homo sapiens)
Explore O14746 
Go to UniProtKB:  O14746
PHAROS:  O14746
GTEx:  ENSG00000164362 
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UniProt GroupO14746
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  • Reference Sequence
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Entity ID: 3
MoleculeChains Sequence LengthOrganismDetailsImage
Histone H2BC [auth M]166Homo sapiensMutation(s): 0 
UniProt
Find proteins for B4DR52 (Homo sapiens)
Explore B4DR52 
Go to UniProtKB:  B4DR52
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UniProt GroupB4DR52
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Entity ID: 4
MoleculeChains Sequence LengthOrganismDetailsImage
Histone H2AD [auth L]130Homo sapiensMutation(s): 0 
UniProt & NIH Common Fund Data Resources
Find proteins for P0C0S8 (Homo sapiens)
Explore P0C0S8 
Go to UniProtKB:  P0C0S8
PHAROS:  P0C0S8
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UniProt GroupP0C0S8
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  • Reference Sequence

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Entity ID: 2
MoleculeChains LengthOrganismImage
DNA (5'-D(P*TP*TP*AP*GP*GP*G)-3')B [auth N]18synthetic construct
Sequence Annotations
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Entity ID: 5
MoleculeChains LengthOrganismImage
RNA (256-MER)E [auth B]451Homo sapiens
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  • Reference Sequence
Experimental Data & Validation

Experimental Data

  • Method: ELECTRON MICROSCOPY
  • Resolution: 3.80 Å
  • Aggregation State: PARTICLE 
  • Reconstruction Method: SINGLE PARTICLE 
EM Software:
TaskSoftware PackageVersion
RECONSTRUCTIONRELION3.1
MODEL REFINEMENTREFMAC

Structure Validation

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Entry History & Funding Information

Deposition Data


Funding OrganizationLocationGrant Number
Medical Research Council (MRC, United Kingdom)United KingdomMC_UP_1201/19
National Institutes of Health/National Institute of General Medical Sciences (NIH/NIGMS)United StatesGM054198

Revision History  (Full details and data files)

  • Version 1.0: 2021-04-28
    Type: Initial release
  • Version 1.1: 2021-05-05
    Changes: Database references
  • Version 1.2: 2021-06-02
    Changes: Database references
  • Version 1.3: 2024-05-01
    Changes: Data collection, Database references