What functions does it perform and what is the mechanism of telomerase?

What functions does it perform and what is the mechanism of telomerase?

Telomerase is the essential reverse transcriptase required for linear chromosome maintenance in most eukaryotes. Telomerase supplements the tandem array of simple-sequence repeats at chromosome ends to compensate for the DNA erosion inherent in genome replication.

What effect does telomerase have on telomeres?

As cells replicate, telomeres shorten at the end of chromosomes, and this process correlates to senescence or cellular aging. Integral to this process is telomerase, which is an enzyme that repairs telomeres and is present in various cells in the human body, especially during human growth and development.

How does telomerase and telomeres work?

In egg and sperm cells, an enzyme called telomerase keeps adding more of the repeating sequence onto the end of DNA strands, so that the telomeres in these cells don’t shorten. In other cells, telomerase is less active, leading to the gradual shortening of telomeres over time.

What is the difference between telomeres and telomerase?

The main difference between telomere and telomerase is that telomere is a protective cap located at the ends of the arms of chromosomes whereas telomerase is an enzyme present in fetal tissues, adult germ cells, and also tumor cells.

What are telomeres and what two protective functions do they serve?

What are the two protective functions of a telomere? 1) Proteins associated with telomeric DNA prevent the ends of the daughter molecule from activating the cell’s systems for monitoring cell damage. 2) Provides protection agains the organism’s genes shortening.

What are telomeres and telomerase and how are they involved in determining longevity?

Telomeres are the specialized repetitive DNA sequences at the ends of the linear chromosomes, and associated proteins, that serve to maintain the integrity of the chromosomes. Telomerase is a ribonucleoprotein DNA polymerase complex that maintains telomere length.

What are telomeres and why are they important how does telomerase play a role quizlet?

Telomeres prevent the ends of chromosomes from being damaged. Telomeres prevent the shortening of chromosomes during replication and the accidental fusion of two chromosomes at their ends.

What are telomeres and telomerase quizlet?

Telomerase is an enzyme which. adds DNA sequences to the 3′ end of the telomere region of chromosomes. Telomeres protect the ends of chromosomes from. deterioration.

What does telomerase activity affect?

Telomerase activity, the ability to extend telomeres, is present in germline and certain hematopoietic cells, whereas somatic cells have low or undetectable levels of this activity and their telomeres undergo a progressive shortening with replication (Fig. 2).

What is a telomere the mechanism quizlet?

Telomeres. Specialized repetitive sequences at the ends of chromosomes. -Protect the ends of chromosomes.

What is the function of telomeres quizlet?

What is the function of the telomere? Telomeres prevent the ends of chromosomes from being damaged. Telomeres prevent the shortening of chromosomes during replication and the accidental fusion of two chromosomes at their ends.

What is the normal role of telomerase quizlet?

Telomerase allows for telomere length and equilibrium maintenance by adding on repeats to the end of the chromosome.

What are telomeres and their functions quizlet?

What is the function of telomerase and telomeres?

How telomerase and telomeres function and how they interact to promote the chromosome-stabilizing properties of telomeres are discussed here. Telomeres, the DNA-protein complexes at the ends of eukaryotic chromosomes, are protective against genome instability-promoting events.

How does telomeric homeostasis affect telomere length?

Conversely, the telomeric homeostasis system acts to promote telomeric extension whenever a telomere becomes shortened, thereby keeping the tract of telomeric repeats within a well-defined range in telomerase-containing cells.

What is an example of an event that changes the telomere?

Such events can include degradation of the terminal regions of chromosomes, fusion of a telomere, either with another telomere or with a broken DNA end, or inappropriate recombination.

Why do telomere ends bind to complementary repeats?

In some species (including humans), the single-stranded overhangs bind to complementary repeats in the nearby double-stranded DNA, causing the telomere ends to form protective loops. Proteins associated with the telomere ends also help protect them and prevent them from triggering DNA repair pathways.