Study of the Telomerase Complex

TheTelomerase reverse transcriptase (TERT) plays a crucial role in synthesizing telomeric repeats that safeguard chromosomes from damage and fusion, thereby maintaining genome stability. Mutations in the TERT gene can lead to a deviation in gene expression, impaired enzyme activity, and, as a result, abnormal telomere shortening. Genetic markers of productivity traits in livestock can be developed based on the TERT gene polymorphism for use in marker-associated selection (MAS).

The organization of the pig TERT gene was analyzed in comparison with TERT in other biological species using bioinformatic methods. Significant similarities between CDS and AAS of the pig TERT with those sequences of other species have been established. The comparison was also made with human TERT in the context of the structural-functional domains of the enzyme and the distribution of SNPs. Due to the high similarity between pig and human TERT, a three-dimensional structure of pig TERT was obtained using the homology modeling method.

According to the results of bioinformatic analysis of 23 missense SNPs of the pig telomerase gene, a predictive effect of rs789641834, rs706045634, rs325294961 and rs705602819 on the structural and functional parameters of the enzyme were established. The TERT gene, given the important role of telomerase enzyme, which it encodes, can be considered a candidate gene involved in the control of biological and productive traits. The bioinformatic assessment of these SNPs enables a targeted selection of polymorphisms that may serve as potential genetic markers, thus the possibility of their application in MAS should be further investigated through associative analysis studies.