# Small RNAs and telomere biology

> **NIH NIH R01** · UNIV OF NORTH CAROLINA CHAPEL HILL · 2021 · $311,000

## Abstract

Project Summary/Abstract
Telomeres of most species are simple repetitive sequences that are maintained by de novo telomere repeat
addition by the ribonucleoprotein telomerase. Small RNAs composed of perfect telomere repeats have been
observed in several organisms, and these have been linked to silencing marks at telomeres and to DNA
damage at telomeres. We discovered an endogenous C. elegans small RNA pathway that promotes telomere
stability in the absence of telomerase. C. elegans small RNAs that are perfectly complementary to telomeric
DNA are very rare, measuring 1 read per 10 million small RNAs. However, two related Caenorhabditis species
C. brennerei and C. remanei have abundant telomeric small RNAs whose levels were increased by several
orders of magnitude. Perfect telomeric small RNAs in all three Caenorhabditis species were strongly depleted
for 5' guanine nucleotides that characterize major C. elegans small RNA species like 26G and 22G RNAs.
These results suggest that telomeric small RNAs have a distinct biogenesis mechanism and that a dramatic
change in their role at telomeres has recently occurred in Caenorhabditis species. We propose to study
telomere biology in C. brennerei and C. remanei, in an effort to understand why telomeric small RNAs are so
abundant in these species, how telomeric small RNAs are created, and what their functions are. Potentially
analogous telomeric small RNAs have been observed in ciliates and mammals, and we may elucidate their
biological relevance.

## Key facts

- **NIH application ID:** 10102259
- **Project number:** 5R01GM135470-02
- **Recipient organization:** UNIV OF NORTH CAROLINA CHAPEL HILL
- **Principal Investigator:** SHAWN CAMERON AHMED
- **Activity code:** R01 (R01, R21, SBIR, etc.)
- **Funding institute:** NIH
- **Fiscal year:** 2021
- **Award amount:** $311,000
- **Award type:** 5
- **Project period:** 2020-02-07 → 2023-12-31

## Primary source

NIH RePORTER: https://reporter.nih.gov/project-details/10102259

## Citation

> US National Institutes of Health, RePORTER application 10102259, Small RNAs and telomere biology (5R01GM135470-02). Retrieved via AI Analytics 2026-05-22 from https://api.ai-analytics.org/grant/nih/10102259. Licensed CC0.

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