title: Structural identity of telomeric complexes.
abstract: A major issue in telomere research is to understand how the integrity of chromosome ends is controlled. Although several nucleoprotein complexes have been described at the telomeres of different organisms, it is still unclear how they confer a structural identity to chromosome ends in order to mask them from DNA repair and to ensure their proper replication. In this review, we describe how telomeric nucleoprotein complexes are structured, comparing different organisms and trying to link these structures to telomere biology. It emerges that telomeres are formed by a complex and specific network of interactions between DNA, RNA and proteins. The fact that these interactions and associated activities are reinforcing each other might help to guaranty the robustness of telomeric functions across the cell cycle and in the event of cellular perturbations. We propose that telomeric nucleoprotein complexes orient cell fate through dynamic transitions in their structures and their organization.
authors.affiliation: University de Nice, Laboratory of Biology and Pathology of Genomes, UMR 6267 CNRS U998 INSERM, Faculté de Médecine, Nice, France.
authors.forename: Marie-Josèphe
authors.initials: MJ
authors.lastname: Giraud-Panis
authors.forename: Sabrina
authors.initials: S
authors.lastname: Pisano
authors.forename: Anaïs
authors.initials: A
authors.lastname: Poulet
authors.forename: Marie-Hélène
authors.initials: MH
authors.lastname: Le Du
authors.forename: Eric
authors.initials: E
authors.lastname: Gilson
mesh_terms: D000818:Animals; D004247:DNA / Q000235:genetics; D004260:DNA Repair / Q000235:genetics; D014644:Genetic Variation; D006801:Humans; D008322:Mammals; D016813:Oxytricha / Q000235:genetics; D011506:Proteins / Q000235:genetics; D012313:RNA / Q000235:genetics; D012441:Saccharomyces cerevisiae / Q000235:genetics; D012568:Schizosaccharomyces / Q000235:genetics; D020080:Tandem Repeat Sequences; D016615:Telomere / Q000737:chemistry* / Q000235:genetics* / Q000378:metabolism
chemical_list: D011506:Proteins; D012313:RNA; D004247:DNA