Ghapter 24 : DNA-FIEPLICATION, AND FEPAIFI

FIECOMBINATION, 531

Telomeres are the special struclures that (A) s' 3' ParentalDNAstrand
prevent the continuous loss of DNA at the end s'. 5' LaggingDNAstrand
of the chromosomes during the course of I RNA primer
i--Okazakifragment--f
replication. Thus, they protect the ends of
the chromosomes/ and are also responsible [ removed
l> ",
to prevent the chromosomes from fusing with
5' -3'
each other. Telomeres are many repeat LTelomere
3- S'
sequences of six nucleotides present at the
ends of eukaryotic chromosomes. Human
(B) s'-TTAGGGTTAGGG 3'
telomerescontain thousandsof repeat TTAGGG
sequencestwhich can be up to a length of
f
ParentalDNAstrand
1500 bp. Newlysynthesized (withtelomeres)
1
incomplete lagging I Bindingto
strand telomerase
Role of telomerase f
5,-TTAGGGTTAGGG 3'
Telomeres are maintained by the enzyme
telomerase, also called as telomere terminal
transferase.Telomeraseis an unusual enzyme as
it is composedof both protein and RNA. In case I Extension of 3'end
of humans, the RNA component is 450 | (NewDNAsynthesis)
.t'
nucleotidesin length,and at the 5'-terminaland s/-TTAGGGTTAGGG G 3'
it containsthe sequence5'-CUAACCCUAAC-3'. 3'- ;CAAUCCCMUC-1
It may be noted that the central region of this \./
3',r s',
sequence is compfomentary to the telomere
repeatsequence5'-TTACCC-3'.The telomerase I Translocation
Y
RNA sequence can be used as a template for 5,-TTAGGGTTAGGG G 3'
extension of telomeres (Fig.2a.9B). 3',-
(CAAUCCCAAUC)
The telomeraseRNA base pairs to the end of 3', s',
I
the DNA molecule with telomeresand extends lNewDNAsynthesis
to a small distance. Then translocation of
fExtension)
telomeraseoccurs and a freshextensionof DNA
takes place. This processof DNA synthesisand
translocationis repeatedseveraltimes until the
chromosome gets sufficiently extended. The
extension process gets completed through
the participation of DNA polymerase and
primase complex and sealing of the new DNA I o andprimase
formed.

It may be noted here that as such the

telomeresdo not encode proteins. Hence, when
extended by telomerase, they need not have to
remain the same length, and some shortening
will not pose any problem. During the courseof CompletedDNAstrands
repeated cell cycles, there occurs progressive Fiq.24.9 : Replicationof DNA with telomeres
shortening of telomeres, and this has to be
prevented,which is appropriately carried out hy
telomerase.