In cancerous cells, telomeres are substantially longer then telomeres found in non-cancerous cells. As a result a number of scientists who study cancer treatment have become interested in telomerase. Why might telomerase be a good target for anticancer therapies? How might anticancer therapies targeting telomerase work (no need to design an experiment, just brainstorm how the therapy might impact telomeres of cancer cells)?

In cancerous cells, telomeres are substantially longer then telomeres found in non-cancerous cells. As a result a number of scientists who study cancer treatment have become interested in telomerase. Why might telomerase be a good target for anticancer therapies? How might anticancer therapies targeting telomerase work (no need to design an experiment, just brainstorm how the therapy might impact telomeres of cancer cells)?

Biology Today and Tomorrow without Physiology (MindTap Course List)

5th Edition

ISBN:9781305117396

Author:Cecie Starr, Christine Evers, Lisa Starr

Publisher:Cecie Starr, Christine Evers, Lisa Starr

Chapter10: Biotechnology

Section: Chapter Questions

Problem 1CT

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Similar questions

Why do adult human cells (other than germ cells and stem cells) NOT express the enzyme telomerase? In other words what benefit does not having telomerase provide to these cells?
In 1994, telomerase activity was discovered in human cancer cell lines. Although telomerase is not active in human somatic tissue, human somatic cells do contain the genes for telomerase proteins and telomerase RNA. Since inappropriate activation of telomerase may contribute to cancer, why do you think the genes coding for this enzyme have been maintained in the human genome throughout evolution? Are there any types of human body cells where telomerase activation would be advantageous or even necessary? Explain.
In your own words, explain how cancer cells differ from normal cells in regard to the following: Telomeres, which are products of telomerase enzyme
The enzyme telomerase is part protein and part RNA. What would be the most likely effect of a large deletion in the gene that encodes the RNA component of telomerase? How would the function of telomerase be affected?
Mice that are engineered to block expression of the gene coding for telomerase protein age at a much faster rate than normal and have a decreased life span. The results of these mice experiments led researchers to propose that treatments that could lead to overexpression of the telomerase gene might serve as the “fountain of youth” leading to reversal of aging in humans. Why should we be very cautious about trying such treatments? Why it might be advantageous for multicellular organisms for most of their somatic cells not to express telomerase?
Telomerase activity has been found to be 10 to 20 times more active in cancer cells than in normal somatic cells. What is the significance of this circumstance?
How is telomerase related to aging? How can telomerase-related aging beaddressed therapeutically? What is a potential danger of telomerase activation?
Telomerase is not active in most human cells. Some cancer biologists have suggested that activation of the telomerase gene would be a requirement for a cell to become cancerous. Explain why this might be the case.
How is telomerases related to ageing? How Can telomerase- related ageing be addressed therapeutically?
A scientist seeks to synthesize a blood clotting factor protein in lab. To perform this experiment,she utilizes recombinant DNA technology where she inserts the gene of interest encoding for theparticular protein from a eukaryotic cell into bacterial plasmids. These plasmids are thesetransformed into E.coli for expression. During structural elucidation of the product, she isdisappointed to discover that the gene product from the bacteria is not the correct protein. Whatcorrective step could she take in the procedure to fix this issue? Justify your answer.
After Drosophila DNA has been treated with a restriction enzyme, the fragments are inserted into plasmids and selected as clones in E. coli. With the use of this “shotgun” technique, every DNA sequence of Drosophila in a library can be recovered.a. How would you identify a clone that contains DNA encoding the protein actin, whose amino acid sequence is known?b. How would you identify a clone encoding a specific tRNA?
#3) Ligase catalyzes a reaction between the 5' phosphate and the 3' hydroxyl groups at the end of DNA molecules. The enzyme calf intestinal phosphatase catalyzes the removal of the 5' phosphate from DNA molecules. What would be the consequence of treating a cloning vector, before ligation, with calf intestinal phosphatase?