title: Replication of telomeres and the regulation of telomerase.
abstract: Telomeres are the physical ends of eukaryotic chromosomes. They protect chromosome ends from DNA degradation, recombination, and DNA end fusions, and they are important for nuclear architecture. Telomeres provide a mechanism for their replication by semiconservative DNA replication and length maintenance by telomerase. Through telomerase repression and induced telomere shortening, telomeres provide the means to regulate cellular life span. In this review, we introduce the current knowledge on telomere composition and structure. We then discuss in depth the current understanding of how telomere components mediate their function during semiconservative DNA replication and how telomerase is regulated at the end of the chromosome. We focus our discussion on the telomeres from mammals and the yeasts Saccharomyces cerevisiae and Schizosaccharomyces pombe.
authors.affiliation: Swiss Institute for Experimental Cancer Research (ISREC), School of Life Sciences, Frontiers in Genetics National Center of Competence in Research, Ecole Polytechnique Fédérale de Lausanne (EPFL), 1015 Lausanne, Switzerland.
authors.forename: Verena
authors.initials: V
authors.lastname: Pfeiffer
authors.forename: Joachim
authors.initials: J
authors.lastname: Lingner
mesh_terms: D000818:Animals; D004261:DNA Replication / Q000502:physiology*; D008322:Mammals / Q000235:genetics; D008957:Models, Genetic; D012441:Saccharomyces cerevisiae / Q000235:genetics; D012568:Schizosaccharomyces / Q000235:genetics; D019098:Telomerase / Q000378:metabolism*; D016615:Telomere / Q000737:chemistry / Q000502:physiology*; D059505:Telomere Homeostasis
chemical_list: D019098:Telomerase
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