ChromosomaDOI10.1007/s00412-012-0379-4RESEARCHARTICLEThecatalyticandtheRNAsubunitsofhumantelomerasearerequiredtoimmortalizeequidprimaryfibroblastsPamelaVidale&ElisaMagnani&SolomonG.Nergadze&MarcoSantagostino&GaelCristofari&AlexandraSmirnova&ChiaraMondello&ElenaGiulottoReceived:7April2012/Revised:25June2012/Accepted:25June2012#TheAuthor(s)2012.ThisarticleispublishedwithopenaccessatSpringerlink.comAbstractManyhumanprimarysomaticcellscanbeim-anequidRNAcomponentoftelomerase(TERC)revealedamortalizedbyinducingtelomeraseactivitythroughtheex-lowactivityofthisenzymecomparedtohumantelomerase,ogenousexpressionofthehumantelomerasecatalyticsuggestingalowcompatibilityofequidandhumantelomer-subunit(hTERT).Thisapproachhasbeenextendedtotheasesubunits.Thisconclusionwasalsostrengthenedbyimmortalizationofcelllinesfromseveralmammals.Here,comparisonofhumanandequidTERCsequences,whichweshowthathTERTexpressionisnotsufficienttoimmor-revealednucleotidedifferencesinkeyregionsforTERCandtalizeprimaryfibroblastsfromthreeequidspecies,namelyTERTinteraction.Wethensucceededinimmortalizingdonkey,Burchelli’szebraandGrevy’szebra.Invitroanal-equidfibroblastsbyexpressinghTERTandhTERCcon-ysisofareconstitutedtelomerasecomposedbyhTERTandcomitantly.Expressionofbothhumantelomerasesubunitsledtotelomeraseactivityandtelomereelongation,indicat-ingthathumantelomeraseiscompatiblewiththeotherCommunicatedbyJanKarlsederequidtelomerasesubunitsandproteinsinvolvedintelomerePamelaVidaletragicallypassedawayonMay9,2011.Wemisshermetabolism.Theimmortalizationproceduredescribedhere-uniquepersonality,intelligence,andpassionforresearch.incouldbeextendedtoprimarycellsfromothermammals.::::P.VidaleE.:MagnaniS.G.NergadzeM.SantagostinoTheavailabilityofimmortalcellsfromendangeredspeciesA.SmirnovaE.Giulotto(*)couldbeparticularlyusefulforobtainingnewinformation“”DipartimentodiBiologiaeBiotecnologieLazzaroSpallanzani,ontheorganizationandfunctionoftheirgenomes,whichisUniversitàdegliStudidiPavia,ViaFerrat