Why Are Telomeres Important

Telomeres are the caps at the end of each strand of DNA that protect our chromosomes. They are protein structures found at the end of each chromosome. Also, telomeres have a repeating DNA sequence at the end of the body's chromosomes. Most people compare telomeres to shoelaces because the strand of DNA would be the lace, and the plastic cap that holds it together would be a telomere. The word telomere derives from two Greek words. Telos, which means end, and meros, which means part. Telomeres are significant to our lives, but we have little or no knowledge about them. If we did not have telomeres, the end of the of chromosomes would come together and cause complications. Such as cancer and cell death. Most people do not know that telomeres affect how our cells age. Also, all cells have telomeres. Without telomeres our DNA cells will be damaged, and our cells will not work properly.

Telomeres are essential to chromosome stability. Without telomeres, the importance of the chromosome would shorten each time a cell divides. When you live a healthy lifestyle, have a better choice of diet, and stay active it helps your telomeres not to shorten quickly. Smoking and obesity have a major effect on telomeres. The length of a telomere is similar to a biological clock. The length of telomeres can be up to 8,000 base pairs in newborns to 3,000 in adults, and as low as 1,500 in elderly people. That is why it is important to live a healthy lifestyle, because the older you get, the shorter your telomeres will get. Shorter telomeres means more incidence of disease and poor