Description
Cotransfection of HeLa cells with a reporter construct driven by the TERT promoter and ALP cDNA resulted in increased reporter activity. Cotransfection of the reporter with antisense ALP cDNA resulted decreased reporter activity. Cells overexpressing ALP showed higher telomerase activity, whereas cells with antisense ALP showed decreased telomerase activity. In vitro analysis showed that ALP specifically catalyzed acetylation of histones. The deduced 834-amino acid protein has a calculated molecular mass of 94 kD. ALP contains an N-acetyltransferase domain accompanied by an ATP/GTP-binding motif and an ATPase domain. Western blot analysis of HeLa cells detected ALP at an apparent molecular mass of 94 kD. Immunocytochemical analysis detected ALP mainly in HeLa cell nuclei