In eukaryotes, the
linear chromosomes ends with a specific nucleoprotein structure called telomere.
In human, telomere
consists of thousands of repeats of six base pair motif (5’-TTAGGG-3’) ending
in a G rich 3’ overhang 30-300 nt long, associated with a complex of six
proteins named shelterin.
The structure prevents
chromosome ends from being recognized as DNA double strand breaks and therefore
being processed by the DNA repair machinery.
End replication problem
is the inability of DNA polymerase to completely replicate the linear genomes,
in...
