Telomeres and Telomerase

Telomeres and Telomerase Chairman: Sydney Brenner, 1997 Telomeres are the protective genetic elements located at the ends of chromosomes and are essential for correct chromosomal structure and function. They are not fully replicated by the conventional DNA polymerase system because DNA synthesis occurs only in the 5' to 3' direction and requires an RNA primer for initiation. Consequently, cells require a special enzyme to maintain the telomeric ends of chromosomes during each round of replication. This enzyme, telomerase, is a ribonucleoprotein that extends chromosome ends by adding short stretches of nucleotide repeats using a portion of its integral RNA component as the…