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Human short TERT promoter

Human short TERT promoter.

hTERT (human Telomerase Reverse Transcriptase) is a human promoter which controls the transcription of Telomerase, a gene highly expressed in cancer cells, and not in healthy ones (1).

Usage and Biology

hTERT promotes the transcription of the catalytic subunit of telomerase. Telomerase elognates the ends of chromosomes, regions called telomers. hTERT is not active in somatic cells and appears to be highly active in most if not all cancer cells, therefor, cells that will express an exogenic gene under hTERT are likely to be cancerous. We have used this promoter as part of a two promoter system, in order to detect whether a cell was a cancer cell.

Characterization

Sequence and Features