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Landmark Tetrahymena Papers
These selected papers describe some of the studies performed with
Tetrahymena that have been most influential to the broader scientific
community. Please note that this is a work in progress, so feel free
to email the TGD curators at ciliate-curator@genome.stanford.edu
with suggested additions to this list.
- Carol W. Greider and Elizabeth H. Blackburn
Cell.
1985 Dec;43(2 Pt 1):405-13
Identification of a Specific Telomere Terminal Transferase
Activity in Tetrahymena Extracts.
This paper describes the first identification and characterization of
telomerase activity, from cellular extracts of T. thermophila.
A 2004 review article by Thomas R. Cech details the history behind this
particular project and the major advances that followed.
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Kruger K, Grabowski PJ, Zaug AJ, Sands J, Gottschling DE, Cech TR
Cell. 1982 Nov;31(1):147-57
Self-splicing RNA: autoexcision and autocyclization
of the ribosomal RNA intervening sequence of Tetrahymena.
This study provides the first positive evidence of a self-splicing
RNA. The intervening sequence (IVS) of the T. thermophila 26S rRNA
was transcribed in vitro, deproteinized, and shown to precisely excise itself
from surrounding exons. See also this 2002 retrospective by Thomas R. Cech on this study and the
origins of ribozyme research.
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Mochizuki K, Fine NA, Fujisawa T, Gorovsky MA
Cell. 2002 Sep 20;110(6):689-99.
Analysis of a piwi-related gene implicates small RNAs in genome
rearrangement in tetrahymena.
This paper describes the discovery of naturally occurring small (~28
nt) RNAs upregulated during programmed DNA elimination. Expression of the
small RNA species, termed "scan" RNAs (scnRNAs), and the knockout
phenotype of a
Tetrahymena piwi homolog provide evidence for the involvement
of scnRNAs in
this process. Intriguing parallels exist between the scnRNA mechanism and the small
interfering RNAs (siRNAs) responsible for other forms of gene
silencing seen in many eukaryotes.
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I. R. Gibbons
Proc
Natl Acad Sci U S A. 1963 Nov;50:1002-10.
Studies on the protein components of cilia from Tetrahymena pyriformis.
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Gibbons, I. R., and A. J. Rowe.
Science. 1965 149:424-426. (online version not available)
Dynein: a protein with adenosine
triphosphatase activity from cilia.
These two papers describe the initial isolation and characterization
of Dynein ("dyne + protein") from Tetrahymena
cilia. Dynein was the first microtubule
force-producing protein motor to be described, and has since been shown to be involved in intracellular
trafficking as well as locomotion, including translocation of membrane-bounded
vesicles in neurons, golgi vesicles, kinetochores, and mitotic spindle astral microtubules.
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Brownell J.E. and Allis C.D.
Proc Natl Acad Sci U S A. 1995 Jul 3;92(14):6364-8.
An Activity Gel Assay Detects a Single, Catalytically Active
Histone Acetyltransferase Subunit in Tetrahymena Macronuclei
Brownell JE, Zhou J, Ranalli T, Kobayashi R, Edmondson DG, Roth SY,
Allis CD.
Cell.
1996 Mar 22;84(6):843-51.
Tetrahymena histone acetyltransferase A: a homolog to yeast
Gcn5p linking histone acetylation to gene activation.
The first paper describes the first molecular isolation of a histone
acetyl-transferase (HAT) polypeptide (from Tetrahymena), while the
second shows this protein to be a homolog of Gcn5p, a yeast protein
known at the time to function in transcription. Gcn5p was also shown
in this paper to possess HAT activity, as predicted from its evolutionary
conservation with the Tetrahymena protein. These and subsequent
findings have frimly linked
dynamic histone acetylation to gene activation.
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