Extended longevity of termite kings and queens isaccompanied by extranuclear localization of telomerase insomatic organs and caste-specific expression of its isoforms  

作　　者：Marie Pangrácová Jan Krivánek Markéta Vrchotová Hana Sehadová Romana Hadravová Robert Hanus Ondrej Lukšan 

机构地区：[1]Institute of Organic Chemistry and Biochemistry of the Czech Academy of Sciences,Prague,Czech Republic [2]Faculty of Science,Charles University,Prague,Czech Republic [3]Institute of Entomology,Biology Centre of the Czech Academy of Sciences,CeskéBudejovice,Czech Republic [4]Faculty of Science,University of South Bohemia,CeskéBudejovice,Czech Republic

出　　处：《Insect Science》2025年第2期364-384,共21页昆虫科学(英文版)

基　　金：supported by the Charles University Grant Agency(project GA UK No 338021);the Institute of Organic Chemistry and Biochemistry,CAS(RVO:61388963).

摘　　要：Kings and queens of termites are endowed with an extraordinary longevity coupled with lifelong fecundity.We recently reported that termite kings and queens dis-play a dramatically increased enzymatic activity and abundance of telomerase in their somatic organs when compared to short-lived workers and soldiers.We hypothesized that this telomerase activation may represent a noncanonical pro-longevity function,indepen-dent of its canonical role in telomere maintenance.Here,we explore this avenue and in-vestigate whether the presumed noncanonical role of telomerase may be due to alternative splicing of the catalytic telomerase subunit TERT and whether the subcellular localiza-tion of TERT isoforms differs among organs and castes in the termite Prorhinotermes simplex.We empirically confirm the expression of four in silico predicted splice variants(psTERT1-A,psTERT1-B,psTERT2-A,psTERT2-B),defined by N-terminal splicing im-plicating differential localizations,and C-terminal splicing giving rise to full-length and truncated isoforms.We show that the transcript proportions of the psTERT are caste-and tissue-specific and that the extranuclear full-length isoform TERT1-A is relatively enriched in the soma of neotenic kings and queens compared to their gonads and to the soma of workers.We also show that extranuclear TERT protein quantities are significantly higher in the soma of kings and queens compared to workers,namely due to the cytosolic TERT.Independently,we confirm by microscopy the extranuclear TERT localization in somatic organs.We conclude that the presumed pleiotropic action of telomerase combining the canonical nuclear role in telomere maintenance with extranuclear functions is driven by complex TERT splicing.

关 键 词：alternative splicing ISOPTERA LONGEVITY TELOMERASE TERMITES TERT 

分 类 号：Q96[生物学—昆虫学]