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Updated: Apr 15, 2026

Telomere Length and Telomerase Activity; A Yin and Yang of Cell Senescence
Published on: May 22, 2013
Non-radioactive assay methods for the assessment of telomerase activity and telomere length
Partha P Banerjee1, Shankar Jagadeesh
1Department of Biochemistry and Molecular & Cellular Biology, Georgetown University Medical Center, 3900 Reservoir Road, NW, Washington, DC, 20057, USA, ppb@georgetown.edu.
Abstract:
The Telomeric repeat amplification protocol (TRAP) is a highly sensitive PCR-based assay and prove to be an important tool for understanding the role of telomerase in cancer and various tissues that harbors telomerase positive stem cells. This assay measures telomerase activity where the amount of target is dependent upon the activity of the enzyme. This protocol consists of two steps: first, telomeric repeats are added to the substrate by telomerase present in the cell and second, the extended products are amplified by Taq-DNA polymerase. The amplified TRAP products are separated on 10 % native PAGE and detected by SYBR Green I dye.
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