An overhanging 3' terminus is a conserved feature of telomeres.
The reactivity of single-stranded thymidines with osmium tetraoxide was used to demonstrate the existence of a terminal overhang of the G-rich strand of telomeres from two distantly related eucaryotes, the ciliated protozoan Tetrahymena spp. and the acellular slime mold Didymium spp. Conservation of a G-strand overhang at the molecular terminus of telomeres is consistent with our suggestion that an unusual DNA structure formed by the G-strand overhang is important for telomere function (E. Henderson, C. C. Hardin, S. K. Wolk, I. Tinoco Jr., and E. H. Blackburn, Cell 51:899-908, 1987).
Henderson
E R
ER
Department of Zoology, Iowa State University, Ames 50011.
Blackburn
E H
EH
D000818:Animals; D001483:Base Sequence; D004275:DNA, Ribosomal / Q000032:analysis*; D004277:DNA, Single-Stranded / Q000032:analysis*; D006147:Guanine; D009235:Myxomycetes / Q000235:genetics; D009993:Osmium Tetroxide; D012091:Repetitive Sequences, Nucleic Acid; D013768:Tetrahymena / Q000235:genetics
D004275:DNA, Ribosomal; D004277:DNA, Single-Stranded; D006147:Guanine; D009993:Osmium Tetroxide