In: Biology
Telomerase carries around its own piece of RNA. Explain why this piece of RNA is important and what it is used for.
Telomerase is a reverse transcriptase enzyme which carries it's own RNA molecule with the sequence 3'-CCCAAUCCC-5' which is used as a template to elongate the DNA molecule at the ends. When replication happens, an RNA primer is attached at the 5' end of the DNA , in the new strand, after this RNA primer is removed, there is a short gap which is not filled. Telomerase enzyme recognises this gaps and adds this RNA sequence in the template DNA while DNA polymerase synthesis and fill the gap in the new strand with respect to this RNA sequence.
This process is done so that the DNA molecule won't get shorter replication after replication. In cancer cells this telomerase activity is very high, leading to the prevention of senessence of the cells. Upon a certain limit, the cells stop dividing due to shortening of DNA due to limited production of telomerase. This production of telomerase is unlimited in cancer cells leading to its immortality.