Cells keep telomerase under control: Study
It is hard to tell the difference between intact and broken spaghetti strands, but the natural ends of chromosomes look like DNA. Every cell in our body must be able to distinguish between the two, because the best method to repair damaged DNA is also the worst for protecting the healthy end.
Take the enzyme telomerase. It is responsible for maintaining protective end caps at the ends of chromosomes. If telomerase were to seal off a DNA strand with a telomere and prevent further repair, it would delete essential genes.
A new study published in Science explains how cells can avoid these mishaps. The findings indicate that telomerase could indeed be running amok and adding telomeres on damaged DNA. This would have happened if the ATR Kinase enzyme, which responds to DNA damages, was not present.
来源和详细信息：
https://phys.org/news/2024-02-reveals-cells-telomerase.html