title: Regulating telomere length from the inside out: the replication fork model.
abstract: Telomere length is regulated around an equilibrium set point. Telomeres shorten during replication and are lengthened by telomerase. Disruption of the length equilibrium leads to disease; thus, it is important to understand the mechanisms that regulate length at the molecular level. The prevailing protein-counting model for regulating telomerase access to elongate the telomere does not explain accumulating evidence of a role of DNA replication in telomere length regulation. Here I present an alternative model: the replication fork model that can explain how passage of a replication fork and regulation of origin firing affect telomere length.
authors.affiliation: Department of Molecular Biology and Genetics, Johns Hopkins University School of Medicine, Baltimore, Maryland 21205, USA; Department of Biology, Johns Hopkins University, Baltimore, Maryland 21218, USA.
authors.forename: Carol W
authors.identifier: 0000-0002-5494-8126
authors.initials: CW
authors.lastname: Greider
mesh_terms: D000818:Animals; D004247:DNA / Q000378:metabolism; D004261:DNA Replication / Q000502:physiology*; D004259:DNA-Directed DNA Polymerase / Q000378:metabolism; D012321:DNA-Directed RNA Polymerases / Q000378:metabolism; D025461:Feedback, Physiological / Q000502:physiology; D006801:Humans; D008954:Models, Biological; D012441:Saccharomyces cerevisiae / Q000235:genetics; D059505:Telomere Homeostasis / Q000502:physiology*; D034501:Telomere-Binding Proteins / Q000378:metabolism
chemical_list: C022262:Okazaki fragments; D034501:Telomere-Binding Proteins; D004247:DNA; D012321:DNA-Directed RNA Polymerases; D004259:DNA-Directed DNA Polymerase
keywords: DNA replication; telomerase; telomere