Professional Documents
Culture Documents
Aging Guides: Telomeres and Telomerase
Aging Guides: Telomeres and Telomerase
BIOLOGY OF AGING
TELOMERES AND
TELOMERASE
An introduction to aging science brought to you by the
American Federation for Aging Research
WHAT ARE TELOMERES? our cells would be unable to telomeres. Research published in
reproduce at all. the January 21, 2003, issue of the
Inside the nucleus of virtually all Proceedings of the National Acad-
of our cells are 46 chromosomes, Telomeres also play an important emy of Sciences suggests that
the thread-like packages that protective role in our cells. Their the end of a cell’s reproductive life
carry our genes. At the tips of presence prevents important may actually be triggered when
these chromosomes, like the hard genetic material from being lost this loop unravels, either due to
ends of shoelaces, are structures during cell division. They also DNA damage or to telomeres that
called telomeres. While they do serve as a “cap” on the ends have become excessively short.
not contain genes, telomeres of chromosomes, protecting
are important for replication or chromosome ends from appear- Telomeres tend to get shorter
duplication of the chromosomes ing broken. This is an important over time. Two researchers, Alexei
during cell division. They are function, because broken chromo- Olovnikov and James D. Watson,
made up of approximately 1,000 somes trigger unwanted biological independently recognized that
to 2,500 copies of a repeated DNA responses. DNA replication machinery cannot
sequence (the order of chemical copy chromosome ends com-
building blocks in a stretch of HOW TELOMERES WORK pletely. Watson named this the
DNA), TTAGGG. “end replication problem.” Each
Telomeres are composed of dou- time a normal cell divides, the
Why do we need telomeres? When ble strands of deoxyribonucleic ends don’t get completely copied,
we are born, we don’t have every acid (DNA), except for the very and the telomeres become just a
cell our bodies will ever need. As ends, called telomere overhangs, bit shorter. Eventually, telomeres
we grow, we need new skin, bone, which have single-strands. Many are so short that the chromosome
blood, and many other kinds of telomeres, including those from reaches a critical length, and no
cells. Even as adults, we need to humans, appear to form t-loops— further cell division can occur.
make new cells. For example, special folded structures where the
skin cells and those cells that single-stranded tail of the telomere This cellular aging phenomenon is
line our intestines are constantly is tucked into the more internal known as replicative senescence
replaced. All of these reproducing double-stranded part. T-loops are or the Halyflick limit (discovered
cells need their telomeres for cell thought to be important for the by Leonard Hayflick in 1961).
division. Without their telomeres, protective-capping function of Telomere shortening is a major
TISSUE REJUVENATION
Scientists are currently looking at ways to help the immune
If low telomerase is related to the
system identify and target malignant cells by way of their
shortened telomeres that mark
telomerase expression, leaving normal cells unharmed. an aging cell, perhaps we can
“turn on” the expression of this