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Open AccessJournal ArticleDOI

Beginning to Understand the End of the Chromosome

Thomas R. Cech
- 23 Jan 2004 - 
- Vol. 116, Iss: 2, pp 273-279
TLDR
Since the discovery of an enzyme that extended the DNA at chromosome telomeres in the ciliate, Tetrahymena, there has been an explosion of knowledge about both the RNA and protein subunits of this unusual ribonucleoprotein enzyme.
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This article is published in Cell.The article was published on 2004-01-23 and is currently open access. It has received 430 citations till now. The article focuses on the topics: Telomere & Telomerase.

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Citations
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Journal ArticleDOI

Cancer genes and the pathways they control.

TL;DR: The purposes of this review are to highlight examples of progress in many areas of cancer research, indicate where knowledge is scarce and point out fertile grounds for future investigation.
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Quadruplex DNA: sequence, topology and structure

TL;DR: This survey focuses on the folding and structural features on quadruplexes formed from telomeric and non-telomeric DNA sequences, and examines fundamental aspects of topology and the emerging relationships with sequence.
Journal ArticleDOI

How Shelterin Protects Mammalian Telomeres

TL;DR: Recent experiments have revealed how shelterin represses the ATM and ATR kinase signaling pathways and hides chromosome ends from nonhomologous end joining and homology-directed repair.
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Telomeres and Aging

TL;DR: The crucial role of telomeres in cell turnover and aging is highlighted by patients with 50% of normal telomere levels resulting from a mutation in one of the telomerase genes, implicated in a variety of disorders including dyskeratosis congenita, aplastic anemia, pulmonary fibrosis, and cancer.
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The POT1-TPP1 telomere complex is a telomerase processivity factor

TL;DR: The crystal structure of a domain of human TPP1 reveals an oligonucleotide/oligosaccharide-binding fold that is structurally similar to the β-subunit of the telomere end-binding protein of a ciliated protozoan, suggesting that TPP1 is the missing β- subunit of human POT1 protein.
References
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Journal ArticleDOI

Telomeres shorten during ageing of human fibroblasts.

TL;DR: The amount and length of telomeric DNA in human fibroblasts does in fact decrease as a function of serial passage during ageing in vitro and possibly in vivo.
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Extension of life-span by introduction of telomerase into normal human cells

TL;DR: In this article, two telomerase-negative normal human cell types, retinal pigment epithelial cells and foreskin fibroblasts, were transfected with vectors encoding the human telomere catalytic subunit.
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Identification of a specific telomere terminal transferase activity in tetrahymena extracts

TL;DR: It is proposed that the novel telomere terminal transferase is involved in the addition of telomeric repeats necessary for the replication of chromosome ends in eukaryotes.
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Mammalian Telomeres End in a Large Duplex Loop

TL;DR: Electron microscopy reported here demonstrated that TRF2 can remodel linear telomeric DNA into large duplex loops (t loops) in vitro, which may provide a general mechanism for the protection and replication of telomeres.
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Creation of human tumour cells with defined genetic elements

TL;DR: It is shown that the ectopic expression of the telomerase catalytic subunit (hTERT) in combination with two oncogenes results in direct tumorigenic conversion of normal human epithelial and fibroblast cells.
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