Telomere Essays

Telomeres and Enzyme Telomerase: The affects telomeres and telomerase have on aging and dying Telomeres have a significant role in how our cells age. It is said that telomeres are for example “Caps at the end of each strand of DNA that protects our Chromosomes like Plastic tips at the end of shoelaces”. Along with telomeres affecting the aging of cells, aging itself is connected to the gradual declination in the staging and stored capacity of the organ system. Below is an explanation of how degradation

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

Telomerase also called telomere terminal transferase is a ribonucleoprotein that adds the polynucleotide “TTAGGG” to the 3 end of telomers. The human telomerase enzyme complex consists of two molecules each of human telomerase reverse transcriptase (TERT), telomerase RNA (TR or TERC), and dvskerin (DKC1)[35]. By using TERC, TERT can add a six-nucleotide repeating sequence, 5'-TTAGGG (in vertebrates, the sequence differs in other organisms) to the 3' strand of chromosomes. These TTAGGG repeats (with

Introduction Telomeres are the ends of chromosomes that consist of tandem repeats of DNA sequences, with the length varying in various species. (Wong et al., 2008). The specific role of telomeres is to protect and guard the chromosomal ends from being damaged, and so if they become too short they lose their protective nature and leave the chromosomal ends exposed to damage (Wong et al. 2008). Types of damage that can be done to telomeres include degradation, recombination, as well as activities

at the tips of chromosomes in areas known as telomeres. The main function of telomerase is to extend the 3' ends of DNA strands by adding 'TTAGGG' repeat sequences as it is not possible for DNA polymerase to replicate 3' ends. Elizabeth Blackburn (molecular biologist, co-discoverer of telomerase and co-winner of the 2009 Nobel Prize for Physiology or Medicine) compared telomeres to the tips of the shoelaces which help to prevent fraying[2]. Telomeres function to protect DNA from molecular attack

Telomeres and ageing Ageing is a natural process and it is relevant in both scientific and social aspects of life; understanding why and how ageing occurs is vital to gaining a greater insight into how organisms work. Looking at telomeres is one of the main ways to learn about ageing. What are telomeres? DNA is arranged into chromosomes which are found in the nucleus of all eukaryotic cells. The genes that are found on chromosomes code for proteins that are essential for organisms to survive, for

Telomere and telomerase: A telomere is a repeating DNA sequence (for example, TTAGGG) at the end of the body's chromosomes. The telomere can reach a length of 15,000 base pairs. Telomeres function by preventing chromosomes from losing base pair sequences at their ends. They also stop chromosomes from fusing to each other. However, each time a cell divides, some of the telomere is lost (usually 25-200 base pairs per division). When the telomere becomes too short, the chromosome reaches a "critical

Genetic engineering in healthcare Genetic engineering is a form of applied biology, often used to change a person's genome by using biotechnology. By adding DNA, removing genes or by recombining them, a genetically modified organism is created which can be used in research, agriculture, industrial biotechnology, medicine and in many other fields of labour. During the past few years, genetic engineering and genetic modification have led to an improvement in life for people, economically as well as

synthesizes in very small sections at a time requiring more work than the leading strand. (book page 268) 3. A) what are telomeres? B) Are telomeres present in both Prokaryotes and Eukaryotes? C) Explain why some cells have telomeres and others don't (base your explanation on the structure of the DNA molecule and the directionality of polymerases). According to the book page 271, Telomeres are specialized structures found on the ends of eukaryotic chromosomes. Their function is to protect and maintain

sequence of TTAGGG’s known as telomere that protects the duplicating DNA. Telomere starts off as long lines of a series of jumbled words at the beginning and end of your DNA. It allows replication of DNA without losing any pieces of the important information it carries. The telomere allows the DNA to take its place as it duplicates so the DNA does not get lost. Simultaneously as the DNA takes its place, the telomere will disappear and become shorter As the Telomere gets shorter, life will also become

(M2) the cell became immortal (Shay and Wright, 2011) When there is a higher telomerase enzyme activity, some of this cell escapes from the crisis and there are enlargement of the telomeres length and promoting cancer pathways (Artandi

1.Telomerase Telomeres play a crucial role in cellular replication, with the loss of telomeres cell is unable to divide. Replicative senescence which is cell incapability to divide was first defined by Hayflick (Hayflick,2000). Hayflick observed that after a several number of cell divisions cells in culture ceased to propagate. 1.1 Telomerase maintenance Cells can attain immortality by two telomere maintenance mechanisms, the first pathway includes an action of ribonucleoprotein enzyme complex

during mitosis; this not a gentle process. To prevent this important genetic information from being lost from the ends of the chromosome, telomeres protect this important information from being lost by taking the loss of its own base pairs. During mitosis, when the telomeres lose some base pairs, they can remain shortened and lead to further breakdown of the telomere, or the enzyme telomerase can add new base pairs allowing new generations of daughter cells to follow. A wild-type (WT) yeast mother

5. Processing and analyzing the data The values are then exported (kb/reaction for telomere and genome copies/reaction for SCG) to csv format. The kb/reaction value is then used to calculate total telomere length in kb per rat diploid genome. The telomere length in kb per reaction value is divided by diploid genome copy number (2n=42) to give a total telomeric length in kb per rat diploid genome. 3.9. Evaluation of alterations

The public often hears of magnificent animal cloning miracles like Cumulina the Mouse, who lived up to nearly three years when the average lifespan is a few months, and thinks that it is a brilliant scientific occurrence. Conversely in the past decade, animal cloning has become more popular for generating food, but the process has countless flaws. Animal cloning is insufficient for supplying food to mass human populations. The procedure scientists use to clone animals has a high failure rate, and

chromosome, called telomeres, shrink in length every time the DNA is copied. The older the animal is, the shorter its telomeres will be, because the cells has divided to many times. This is a natural part of aging. Chromosomes from cloned cattle or mice had longer telomeres than normal. These cells showed other signs of youth and seemed to have an extended lifespan compared with cells from a naturally conceived cow. On the other hand, Dolly the sheep 's chromosomes had shorter telomere lengths than normal

1. Why do cells divide? 2. Differentiate between: DNA, gene, chromosome, chromatin, chromatid 3. Where will you find telomeres? (Extension) 4. What is their function? (Extension) 1. Cells must be provided with food, oxygen and basically nutrients in order to survive and function properly. However, when cells get bigger, required materials passing through the cell membrane are not enough to feed the inside organnelles and materials. Therefore, the cell divides so that its contents can be supplied

Chromosomes are protected by telomeres. Telomeres act as a barrier between the chromosomes and its surroundings. Every time our cells divide our telomeres shorten causing our cells to age and causing us to age. If scientists could find a way to slow down the rate at which our telomeres shorten life spans could be increased. A way of preserving our minds in the search to become immortal is cryogenically

Human cloning is the creation of a genetically identical copy of a human being, human cell, or a human tissue. The history of cloning dates back to the first creation of a clone of a sheep named ‘Dolly’ in 1997 by a Scottish scientist. Dolly was created by a used cloning technique called ‘Somatic cell Nuclear transfer’, which created a genetically twin animal. After the cloning of Dolly, scientists thought that humans could be cloned, as well. The term ‘Human Cloning’ refers to an asexual

Elizabeth Blackburn The work of Elizabeth Blackburn concerns the performance and production of telomeres, which are the ends of eukaryotic chromosomes. Telomerase specifies the sequence of telomeric DNA by using a short sequence of the telomerase RNA moiety as the guide for DNA synthesis. Therefore, telomeric DNA is a vital chromosomal component which is unusual as it is made by copying an RNA sequence; which is an extremely specialised, distinctive mechanism. Her goal is to grasp the role of telomerase