THE

REPLICATION
OF
TELOMERES
Prepared by:Ariane Faye O. Betarmos
OBJECTIVE:
Describe the role of telomerase
in the replication of telomeres
 WHAT IS A
TELOMERE?

TELOMERE
● A telomere is a region of repetitive DNA
sequences at the end of a chromosome.

● Non-coding regions which means that

they don’t have necessary genes for our
survival.

● Present only in Eukaryotes (cannot be

found in Prokaryotes).
 TELOMERES
Here’s a closer look of a telomere
strand.

We can see that the lagging strand is longer than the leading strand.

Non-Coding Hexameric Sequence:

A-A-T-C-C-C
T-T-A-G-G-G
 TELOMERES

• DNA cannot exist as single-stranded, because if it does, the enzyme called nuclease can come
and attack the single-stranded DNA and its going to be degraded.

NUCLEASE:
• Micrococcal nuclease is a type of endonuclease that primarily digests single-stranded DNA or
RNA, specifically at AU- or AT-rich regions.
TELOMERES

The DNA will coil upon itself and make a loop kind of
structure which is called T-loop. The single-stranded
portion will hide itself in the D-loop.
 TELOMERES
Shelterin promotes the fold-back of telomeric DNA into
a T-loop structure through formation of a D-loop. 

Shelterin complex protects telomere from

illegitimate activation of DNA damage response
and repair.
Why Lagging Strand is Longer than Leading Strand?

The major difference between a

lagging and leading strand is that the
lagging strand replicates
discontinuously forming short
fragments, whereas the leading strand
replicates continuously.
 TELOMERE SHORTENING
AND SENESENCE

• It is natural that telomeres shorten as we grow and age.For every Cell

Division we are losing a tiny potion of a telomere.

• According to the Hayflick Limit, the maximum number of times a cell

can divide before it stops or dies is between 40-60 divisions.

• Senesence - In simpler words, senescence is biological ageing. In biology,

it refers to the state where cells can no longer divide; however, they
remain active and alive.
WHAT IS
TELOMERASE?
•Telomerase is the enzyme responsible for
maintenance of the length of telomeres by
addition of guanine-rich repetitive
sequences. 
•Telomerase is ribonucleoprotein that is also
called as telomerase reverse transcriptase. It
uses parts of human telomerase- associated
RNA (hTR) as template for telomeric repeat
synthesis
Each time our cells replicate,
Telomeres shorten - like a
candle slowly burning down.
When telomeres become too
short, it triggers our DNA
damage response, signaling
our cells to stop dividing or
die.

Telomerase helps maintain

telomere length in our cells
TELOMERE AND
CANCER

As a cell begins to become cancerous, it

divides more often, and its telomeres
become very short. If its telomeres get
too short, the cell may die. Often times,
these cells escape death by making more
telomerase enzyme, which prevents the
telomeres from getting even shorter.
REFERENCES:
Telomeres and Telomerases – YouTube https://www.youtube.com/watch?
v=fuGmBxm3a5Y

The links between telomerase and aging – YouTube

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=7bbVDZ4DF78

The Relationship Between Telomeres, Aging, and Cancer (verywellhealth.com)

https://www.verywellhealth.com/understanding-cellular-aging-2224234

What are Telomeres and How Do They Play a Role in Cancer? | Dana-Farber
https://blog.dana-farber.org/insight/2020/11/what-are-telomeres-and-how-do-they-play-
a-role-in-cancer/
THANK YOU
FOR
LISTENING!