Patent ID: 7517971

Claim:
A recombinant polynucleotide encoding an activity-modified hTRT polypeptide, wherein the polypeptide: a) has at least 95% sequence identity to SEQ ID NO:2; and, b) is catalytically inactive; wherein catalytically inactive means the polypeptide has less than 1% of the catalytic activity of the hTRT polypeptide consisting of SEQ ID NO:2 wherein said polypeptide comprises a mutation selected from the group consisting of: a mutation in Motif 1 relative to SEQ ID NO:2, wherein Motif 1 consists of residues 619-629 of SEQ ID NO:2; a mutation in Motif 2 relative to SEQ ID NO:2, wherein Motif 2 consists of residues 630-634 of SEQ ID NO:2; a mutation in Motif A relative to SEQ ID NO:2, wherein Motif A consists of residues 704-720 of SEQ ID NO:2; a mutation in Motif C relative to SEQ ID NO:2, wherein Motif C consists of residues 862-874 of SEQ ID NO:2 and, a mutation in the FFYxTE Motif relative to SEQ ID NO:2, wherein the FFYxTE Motif consists of residues 560-565 of SEQ ID NO:2.