Tag Archives: what is telomere and telomerase

What Is Telomere And Telomerase

[mage lang=”en|es|fr|en” source=”flickr”]what is telomere and telomerase[/mage]
what is a telomere and what does telomerase do?

im studying for a test and ive read the section in my book multiple times, please help

Telomeres are bunches of DNA on the end of chromosomes.

They are kind of like glue because they help prevent deterioration of chromosomes. They also help to determine the longevity of a cell. When chromosomes do their thing, some telomeres break off.
To keep it simple, less telomere = older cell, more telomere = younger cell

Telomerase is an enzyme (it ends in -ase) and it reattaches telomeres to chromosomes.

Many scientists have been studying telomerase because if they could trick the cell into ‘thinking’ it is younger by have more telomeres, then people could live longer.