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Updated: Dec 10, 2025

Generation of Cancer Cell Clones to Visualize Telomeric Repeat-containing RNA TERRA Expressed from a Single Telomere in Living Cells
Published on: January 17, 2019
Dynamics of telomeric repeat-containing RNA expression in early embryonic cleavage stages with regards to maternal
Paweł Kordowitzki1,2, Isabel López de Silanes3, Ana Guío-Carrión3
1Institute of Animal Reproduction and Food Research of Polish Academy of Sciences, Olsztyn, Poland.
Abstract:
Telomeres are transcribed into long non-coding RNAs known as Telomeric Repeat-Containing RNA (TERRA). They have been shown to be essential regulators of telomeres and to act as epigenomic modulators at extra-telomeric sites. However the role of TERRA during early embryonic development has never been investigated. Here, we show that TERRA is expressed in murine and bovine early development following a wave pattern. It starts at 4-cell stage, reaching a maximum at the 16-cell followed by a decline at the morula and blastocyst stages. Moreover, TERRA expression is not affected by increasing oocyte donor age whereas telomere length does. This indicates that TERRA expression is independent of the telomere length in early development. Our findings anticipate an essential role of TERRA in early stages of development and this might be useful in the future for a better understanding of age related female infertility.
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