Chromosomes - long, linear DNA molecules - are capped at their ends with special DNA structures called telomeres and an assortment of proteins, which together act as a protective sheath. Telomeres are maintained through the interactions between an enzyme, telomerase, and several accessory proteins. Researchers at The Wistar Institute have defined the structure of one of these critical proteins in yeast. Understanding how telomeres keep chromosomes - and by extension, genomes - intact is an area of intense scientific focus in the fields of both aging and cancer...
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