Telomeres are specialized structures on chromosome ends that are essential for genome stability and cellular replicative capacity. Maintenance of proper telomere structure and length allows continued cell division. However, most replicating cells in the body do not express the maintenance enzyme telomerase and gradually lose telomeric DNA, eventually reaching a critically short telomere length that triggers cellular senescence and/or apoptosis. Theoretically, significant accumulation of senescent cells or loss of apoptotic cells in tissues occurs late in life and may underlie development of certain normal aging characteristics. However, solid support for the relationship between telomere dysfunction, cellular senescence and possible aging phenotypes in normal individuals is currently lacking. The premature aging disease Werner syndrome (WS) that shows early onset and increased frequency of many deleterious aging features (including cancer, atherosclerosis, osteoporosis, cataracts, diabetes, and hypertension) is caused by loss of function of a single protein, WRN. Cells derived from WS patients show telomeric abnormalities and a dramatic premature cellular senescence that is prevented by prior expression of telomerase. Investigations from several laboratories (including ours) indicate that WRN functions in telomere maintenance, possibly in coordination with the telomeric protein TRF2. Thus, WS is an excellent model for studying the relationships between telomere maintenance, cellular senescence, apoptosis, and development of specific aging characteristics. This proposal will examine the biochemical activities of WRN (in conjunction with TRF2 and other telomeric factors) on relevant telomeric DNA structures and determine its protein partners during its function in telomere metabolism with specific emphasis on telomeric replication. In addition, telomere dynamics (replication kinetics and length alterations) and cellular senescence in normal and WS cells will be examined during chronic treatment with selected DNA damaging agents. These studies will clarify the telomeric function of WRN and determine whether persistent DNA lesions in telomeric regions exacerbate telomere loss over time in WS cells compared to normal cells, and provide further support to the role of telomere dysfunction in the development of specific age-related characteristics in WS as well as in normal aging. Thus, this proposal will implicate and examine basic mechanisms at work in genome maintenance and suppression of certain aging phenotypes as well as cancer.

Public Health Relevance

This proposal examines the role of a specific protein, WRN, in the maintenance of chromosome ends, otherwise known as telomeres. When the function of human WRN is lost (in the hereditary disease Werner syndrome), the resulting telomeric abnormalities trigger cell senescence or cell death and, in time, cause early development of aging features and cancer in affected individuals. By investigating Werner syndrome and the role of WRN in telomere metabolism, this proposal will help understand basic cellular mechanisms that act to suppress development of specific aging characteristics as well as cancer.

Agency
National Institute of Health (NIH)
Institute
National Institute on Aging (NIA)
Type
Research Project (R01)
Project #
5R01AG027258-04
Application #
8101170
Study Section
Cellular Mechanisms in Aging and Development Study Section (CMAD)
Program Officer
Guo, Max
Project Start
2008-08-01
Project End
2013-12-31
Budget Start
2011-07-01
Budget End
2013-12-31
Support Year
4
Fiscal Year
2011
Total Cost
$228,628
Indirect Cost
Name
University of Kentucky
Department
Pharmacology
Type
Schools of Medicine
DUNS #
939017877
City
Lexington
State
KY
Country
United States
Zip Code
40506
Edwards, Deanna N; Machwe, Amrita; Chen, Li et al. (2015) The DNA structure and sequence preferences of WRN underlie its function in telomeric recombination events. Nat Commun 6:8331
Lozada, Enerlyn; Yi, Jingjie; Luo, Jianyuan et al. (2014) Acetylation of Werner syndrome protein (WRN): relationships with DNA damage, DNA replication and DNA metabolic activities. Biogerontology 15:347-66
Edwards, Deanna N; Orren, David K; Machwe, Amrita (2014) Strand exchange of telomeric DNA catalyzed by the Werner syndrome protein (WRN) is specifically stimulated by TRF2. Nucleic Acids Res 42:7748-61
Edwards, Deanna N; Machwe, Amrita; Wang, Zhigang et al. (2014) Intramolecular telomeric G-quadruplexes dramatically inhibit DNA synthesis by replicative and translesion polymerases, revealing their potential to lead to genetic change. PLoS One 9:e80664
Chan, Nelson L S; Hou, Caixia; Zhang, Tianyi et al. (2012) The Werner syndrome protein promotes CAG/CTG repeat stability by resolving large (CAG)(n)/(CTG)(n) hairpins. J Biol Chem 287:30151-6
Machwe, Amrita; Lozada, Enerlyn; Wold, Marc S et al. (2011) Molecular cooperation between the Werner syndrome protein and replication protein A in relation to replication fork blockage. J Biol Chem 286:3497-508
Machwe, Amrita; Karale, Rajashree; Xu, Xioahua et al. (2011) The Werner and Bloom syndrome proteins help resolve replication blockage by converting (regressed) holliday junctions to functional replication forks. Biochemistry 50:6774-88
Li, Kai; Wang, Rui; Lozada, Enerlyn et al. (2010) Acetylation of WRN protein regulates its stability by inhibiting ubiquitination. PLoS One 5:e10341