LONGEVITY OF LOBSTERS IS LINKED TO UBIQUITOUS TELOMERASE EXPRESSION

Mammals have high growth rates in embryonic and juvenile phases and no growth in adult and senescent phases. We analyzed telomerase activity in a fundamentally different animal which grows indeterminately. Lobs ters (Homarus americanus) grow throughout their life and the occurrenc e of senescence is slow. A modified TRAP assay was developed and the l obster telomeric repeat sequence TTAGG was determined, We detected tel omerase activities which were dependent on RNA and protein components, required dGTP, dATP and dTTP, but not dCTP. Telomerase products with a five nucleotide periodicity were generated. High telomerase activiti es were detected in all lobster organs. We conclude that telomerase ac tivation is a conserved mechanism for maintaining long-term cell proli feration capacity and preventing senescence, not only in cellular mode ls or embryonic life stages but also in adult multicellular organisms. (C) 1998 Federation of European Biochemical Societies.