TELOMERASE ACTIVITY IN PLANT-EXTRACTS

Telomeres of most eucaryotes terminate in long stretches of short, gua nine-rich repeals, Telomerase. a specialized enzyme with reverse trans criptase-like activity, has been shown to synthesize these repeats in many lower eucaryotes and several animal species, Although a sequence (TTTACGG)(n) that matches the eucaryotic consensus sequence T-x(A)G(y) is present in several plant species, the activity and expression patt erns of plant telomerase have not been reported. Here we document the presence of telomerase activity in plant tissues using a modification of the human Telomeric Repeal Amplification Protocol (TRAP) assay. Tel omerase activity was detected in barley embryo, anther and carpel tiss ues and in immature seeds of Arabidopsis thaliana, but not in barley l eaf tissue.