What is telomere?

What Does telomere Mean

Telomere is a term that is not part of the dictionary of the Royal Spanish Academy ( RAE ). The concept is used in biology with reference to the tips of chromosomes .

Telomeres are the areas that confer stability to the structure of chromosomes and that allow the development of cell segmentation . These are repeating sectors that present non-coding DNA . In this sense, it must be clarified that the chromosome houses two kinds of DNA . The coding DNA is the one that presents the information that the proteins are responsible for coding. Said DNA is dispersed in the so-called non-coding DNA . Telomeres have this last DNA , the non-coding one.

Many and varied are the functions that cells perform or that revolve around them and in a large number of these activities the aforementioned telomeres play a very important role. Specifically, we can say that they are related to the following:

-Mitosis and meiosis.

-The maintenance of what is known as chromosomal stability.

-The development and aging of the tissues that an organism has.
The American Hermann Joseph Muller was the one who, in the first decades of the 20th century , noticed the existence of telomeres. The advance of the knowledge of molecular genetics allowed to increase the knowledge regarding these components of the chromosomes. In 2009 , three scientists won the Nobel Prize in Medicine for discovering telomerase : an enzyme that is responsible for synthesizing telomeres.
Thanks to telomeres, chromosomes do not adhere to each other , something that has great relevance in cell life. Telomeres, on the other hand, contribute to the pairing of homologous chromosomes in meiosis , more precisely in prophase .
Since telomeres were discovered, endless research and studies have been developed around them. Among the most curious and recent is one carried out by researchers from Tel Aviv University, specifically from the Department of Molecular Microbiology and Biotechnology, which has come to establish that there are certain drinks that when taken have a significant influence on these elements.
Specifically, the result of the work carried out by these professionals has been that beer lengthens telomeres while all those drinks that have caffeine shorten them. A discovery that is added to other clear ideas that are had in this regard such as that stress is responsible for shortening them in the same way.
It is important to mention that various theories related to oncogenesis (studies on the processes that lead to the development of cancer ) and aging affirm that telomeres determine the amount of cell divisions that occur until the death of the cell.

In addition to cancer, we cannot ignore that another disease in which telomerase becomes the protagonist because there is a notable deficiency of it is in AIDS. Specifically, in the body of the patient who suffers it, a clear deficit in what the activity is carried out can be perceived.

Go up