telomerase

American  

[tuh-lom-uh-reys, ‑-reyz] / təˈlɒm əˌreɪs, ‑ˌreɪz /

noun

1. an enzyme, active chiefly in tumors and reproductive cells, that causes telomeres to lengthen: facilitates cell division and may account for the immortality of cancer cells.

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telomerase British  

/ tɛˈlɒməˌreɪz /

noun

1. an enzyme that is involved in the formation and repair of telomeres, so that chromosomes are not shortened during cell division

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telomerase Scientific  

/ tə-lŏm′ə-rās′,-rāz′ /

1. An enzyme that preserves the length of telomeres across cell divisions in germ cells, stem cells, and most cancer cells. A kind of reverse transcriptase, telomerase is an RNA-containing enzyme that synthesizes the DNA of telomeres by reverse transcription. It is active during DNA replication and is thought to play a role in the proliferation and apparent immortality of cells in which it is present. In cells that lack telomerase (that is, in most somatic cells of the body), the telomeres of chromosomes shorten and eventually disappear over repeated cell divisions. The inhibition of telomerase is being investigated as a method of killing cancerous cells.

2. See more at telomere

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Etymology

Origin of telomerase

telomere + -ase

Example Sentences

Graduate student Sourav Agrawal, research scientist Xiuhua Lin, and postdoctoral researcher Vivek Susvirkar led the search for proteins likely to work alongside telomerase.

From Science Daily • Dec. 11, 2025

Phosphorylated POT1 ensures that CST-Polα/primase remains inactive until telomerase has finished its job, upon which the dephosphorylation of POT1 activates CST-Polα/primase to add the finishing touches to the telomere.

From Science Daily • Jun. 4, 2024

UC Santa Cruz professor Carol Greider has been studying telomeres and telomerase for over 30 years.

From Science Daily • Apr. 11, 2024

But a solution was forthcoming: Liz Blackburn and Carol Greider discovered telomerase, an enzyme that adds the telomeric repeats to the ends of chromosomes.

From Science Daily • Feb. 28, 2024

This explained the mechanics of HeLa’s immortality: telomerase constantly rewound the ticking clock at the end of Henrietta’s chromosomes so they never grew old and never died.

From "The Immortal Life of Henrietta Lacks" by Rebecca Skloot