What is Telomere?
[[Image:Telomere caps.gif|thumb|right|300px|Human [[chromosome]]s (grey) capped by telomeres (white)]] A '''telomere''' is a region of [[DNA]] at the end of a [[chromosome]]. It protects the end of the chromosome from deteriorating (getting worse) or fusing (joining) with other chromosomes. The telomeres are made of repeated sequences of DNA ('repetitive DNA'). During [[cell division]], [[enzyme]]s that duplicate DNA cannot continue their work all the way to the end of chromosomes. If cells divided without telomeres, they would lose the ends of their chromosomes, and the information they contain. The telomeres are disposable [[wikt:buffer|buffers]] blocking the ends of the chromosomes. They are destroyed during cell division, and are remade by an enzyme, [[telomerase]] [[reverse transcriptase]].<ref>Elizabeth Blackburn: [https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=irUQEG4BSK4 AtGoogleTalks, August 20, 2008 Molecular biologist Elizabeth Blackburn]</ref> The [[Australian]] [[Elizabeth Blackburn]] and the [[United States|Americans]] [[Carol Greider]] and [[Jack Szostak]] won the 2008 [[Nobel Prize in Physiology or Medicine]] for their work on telomeres. == References == {{Reflist}} [[Category:Chromosomes]] [[Category:Molecular biology]]