Characterization of short tandem repeats from thirty-one human telomeres.

Editorial: Could Speciation Across Evolution be Governed by Genetic Switch Codes at Short Tandem Repeats?

Modulation of Telomeres in Alternative Lengthening of Telomeres Type I Like Human Cells by the Expression of Werner Protein and Telomerase

The alternative lengthening of telomeres (ALT) is a recombination-based mechanism of telomere maintenance activated in 5-20% of human cancers. In Saccharomyces cerevisiae, survivors that arise after inactivation of telomerase can be classified as type I or type II ALT. In type I, telomeres have a tandem array structure, with each subunit consisting of a subtelomeric Y' element and short telomer...

Telomeric repeats (TTAGGC)n are sufficient for chromosome capping function in Caenorhabditis elegans.

Telomeres are specialized structures located at the ends of linear eukaryotic chromosomes that ensure their complete replication and protect them from fusion and degradation. We report here the characterization of the telomeres of the nematode Caenorhabditis elegans. We show that the chromosomes terminate in 4-9 kb of tandem repeats of the sequence TTAGGC. Furthermore, we have isolated clones c...

Totally mutant telomeres: single-step mutagenesis of tandem repeat DNA sequences.

Telomeres, the tandem repeats that cap the ends of linear eukaryotic chromosomes, are difficult to study on a molecular level. They are present at the end of each chromosome in the cell, and each is composed of multiple tandem repeats. Telomeres are replicated by a combination of two processes (1). Most telomeric sequences are replicated, like the rest of the genome, by DNA polymerase. The sequ...

Segmental Duplications as a Complement Strategy to Short Tandem Repeats in the Prenatal Diagnosis of Down Syndrome

Background: Quantitative fluorescence-polymerase chain reaction (QF-PCR) is an inexpensive and accurate method for the prenatal diagnosis of aneuploidies that applies short tandem repeats (STRs) as a chromosome-specific marker. Despite its apparent advantages, QF-PCR is not applicable in all cases due to the presence of uninformative STRs. This study was carried out to investigate the efficienc...