HUMAN cells with a lust for life have shown that an enzyme called telomerase
could help control ageing.
A team led by Calvin Harley of Geron Corporation in Menlo Park, California,
equipped cells with copies of the gene that makes telomerase. Instead of
eventually ceasing to divide鈥攁s they would normally鈥攖he enzyme-rich
cells carried on dividing indefinitely. 鈥淭he cells are still alive and
dividing,鈥� Harley says.
The team says in Science (vol 279, p 349) that this suggests that
telomerase 鈥渞ewinds鈥� a cell鈥檚 molecular clock. The enzyme rebuilds
telomeres鈥攖he tips of chromosomes that gradually wear away each time a
cell divides.
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