Telomerase caught in the act: united we stand, divided we fall

The stable linearity of eukaryotic chromosomes depends on special characteristics of their ends, the telomeres. Accurate telomere function in turn requires a sustained presence of repeated DNA elements, which are maintained by the enzyme telomerase. The telomerase holoenzyme is composed of both protein and RNA, and its functions rely on proper expression, maturation, trafficking and assembly of these components. Conflicting models for the recruitment of telomerase at telomeres have been proposed; one suggests a local activation of telomerase at short telomeres, while the other proposes that telomerase is recruited only at short telomeres. To discriminate between these models and investigate the cell cycle-dependent regulation of telomerase in living cells, a GFP reporter system to visualize the yeast telomerase RNA has been recently developed. This assay shed new light on the mechanism of recruitment of telomerase to telomeres, and it uncovered a hitherto unrecognized mechanism for restricting telomerase access to telomeres.