CHROMOSOME HEALING - SPONTANEOUS AND PROGRAMMED DE-NOVO TELOMERE FORMATION BY TELOMERASE

Telomeres are protective caps for chromosome ends that are essential f or genome stability. Broken chromosomes missing a telomere will not be maintained unless the chromosome is 'healed' with the formation of a new telomere. Chromosome healing can be a programmed event following d evelopmentally regulated chromosome fragmentation, or it may occur spo ntaneously when a chromosome is accidentally broken. In this article w e discuss the consequences of telomere loss and the possible mechanism s that the enzyme telomerase employs to form telomeres de novo on brok en chromosome ends.