Figure 1.

Telomerase components. Telomerase is composed of two major components: the catalytic subunit and the template RNA (hTR). Several proteins are associated with hTERT or hTR and facilitate their folding or assembly. Many different proteins interact with telomeric DNA and participate in telomerase recruitment. Mutations in two telomerase component (hTR and dyskerin, in red) have been demonstrated to be involved into dyskeratosis congenita (DKC), a progressive bone-marrow failure syndrome (103,104).