Telomerase

Edited by: Paul Smaglik Thomas R. Cech T.M. Nakamura, G.B. Morin, K.B. Chapman, S.L. Weinrich, W.H. Andrews, J. Lingner, C.B. Harley, T.R. Cech, "Telomerase catalytic subunit homologs from fission yeast and human," Science, 277:955-9, Aug. 15, 1997. (Cited in more than 220 papers since publication) Comments by Thomas R. Cech, professor of biochemistry, biophysics, and genetics at the University of Colorado Health Sciences Center, Boulder This paper is "a derivative," laughs Thomas Cech. The

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Edited by: Paul Smaglik

Thomas R. Cech

T.M. Nakamura, G.B. Morin, K.B. Chapman, S.L. Weinrich, W.H. Andrews, J. Lingner, C.B. Harley, T.R. Cech, "Telomerase catalytic subunit homologs from fission yeast and human," Science, 277:955-9, Aug. 15, 1997. (Cited in more than 220 papers since publication)

Comments by Thomas R. Cech, professor of biochemistry, biophysics, and genetics at the University of Colorado Health Sciences Center, Boulder

This paper is "a derivative," laughs Thomas Cech. The "real breakthrough" paper that made it (and its companion, see below) possible came months earlier, but has received less citation attention than either of its successors. That earlier paper reported the purification of the telomerase enzyme's catalytic subunit--the first such subunit cloned.1 "That paper was the result of four years in the cold room by Joachim Lingner," Cech recalls, adding that the skill and diligence of the then-University of Colorado at Boulder postdoc beat the odds. ...

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