Blunt-ended telomeres: an alternative ending to the replication and end protection stories. Academic Article

abstract

• Telomeres ensure the complete replication of genetic material while simultaneously distinguishing the chromosome terminus from a double-strand break. A prevailing theme in telomere biology is that the two chromosome ends are symmetrical. Both terminate in a single-strand 3' extension, and the 3' extension is crucial for telomere end protection. In this issue of Genes & Development, Kazda and colleagues (pp. 1703-1713) challenge this paradigm using a series of elegant biochemical and genetic assays to demonstrate that half of the chromosomes in flowering plants are blunt-ended. This discovery reveals unanticipated complexity in telomeric DNA processing and a novel mode of chromosome end protection.

authors

• Shippen, Dorothy

published proceedings

• Genes Dev

author list (cited authors)

• Nelson, A., & Shippen, D. E.

citation count

• 13

complete list of authors

• Nelson, Andrew DL||Shippen, Dorothy E

publication date

• August 2012

publisher

• Cold Spring Harbor Laboratory  Publisher

published in

• Genes and Development  Journal

keywords

• Arabidopsis
• Chromosomes, Plant
• Telomere

PubMed Central ID

• 22855827

Digital Object Identifier (DOI)

• 10.1101/gad.199059.112

start page

• 1648

end page

• 1652

volume

• 26

issue

• 15

URL

• http://dx.doi.org/10.1101/gad.199059.112