Telomeres are repetitive nucleotide elements at the ends of chromosomes that protect chromosomes from degradation and genetic information loss. Telomerase is an RNA-containing enzyme that synthesizes the telomere repeat sequence at the 3' end of telomeres. Normal diploid cells lack telomerase activity, therefore, telomeres are lost with each cell cycle. In certain cells such as embryonic stem cells and most cancer cells, however, telomerase is activated to maintain telomere length and cellular immortality. The quantitative detection of telomerase activity is important in many aspects of cell biology, such as stemness and oncogenesis.

ScienCell's Telomerase Activity Quantification qPCR Assay Kit (TAQ) is designed to quantitatively compare telomerase activity among cell populations. The cell lysis buffer is a mild lysis buffer that enables the release of telomerase in the native state. The telomere primer set (TPS) recognizes and amplifies newly synthesized telomere sequences in the assay. The carefully designed primers ensure at suggested assay conditions: (i) high efficiency for trustworthy quantification; and (ii) no non-specific amplification. The primer set has been validated by qPCR with melt curve analysis and gel electrophoresis for amplification specificity and by template serial dilution for amplification efficiency.