Molecular architecture of the hTERT coding region.

<p>Known hTERT protein domains and motifs are shown. The 1132-amino acid protein is aligned above the 3396-nt coding region of the 16 hTERT exons. Common alternatively spliced variants are shown below the wild type mRNA. These include the α-variant (deletion of first 36 nucleotides from exon 6), the ß-variant (deletion of exon 7 and 8) and the DEL[e2] variant (deletion of exon 2) described herein. The predicted open reading frame (ORF) for each mRNA is indicated. The 5′ UTR and 3′ UTR are not shown.