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Wistar Scientists Further Unravel Telomere Biology
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Chromosomes—long, linear DNA molecules—are capped at their ends with special DNA structures called telomeres and an assortment of proteins, which together act as a protective sheath. Telomeres are maintained through the interactions between an enzyme, telomerase, and several accessory proteins. Researchers at The Wistar Institute have defined the structure of one of these critical proteins in yeast.
Understanding how telomeres keep chromosomes–and by extension, genomes–intact is an area of intense scientific focus in the fields of both aging and cancer. In aging, the DNA of telomeres eventually erodes faster than telomerase and its accessory proteins can maintain it, and cells die. In cancer, tumor cells hijack the process, subverting the natural method by which our bodies limit cell growth; cancer cells, then, can grow and multiply unchecked.
See more and subscribe to NextBigFuture at 2012-11-22 05:41:59 Source: http://nextbigfuture.com/2012/11/wistar-scientists-further-unravel.html
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