Maintenance of telomere capping is absolutely essential to the survival of eukaryotic cells. Telomere capping proteins, such as Cdc13 and POT1, are essential for the viability of budding yeast and mammalian cells, respectively. Here we identify, for the first time, three genetic modifications that allow budding yeast cells to survive without telomere capping by Cdc13. We found that simultaneous...

Telomeres are protected and maintained by telomere-specific proteins. In addition, proteins involved in DNA repair, such as Mre11-Rad50-Nbs1 complex, RPA, and RecQ helicase, are also involved in telomere maintenance. In this review, the roles of these proteins in telomere maintenance and their functional relationships to the telomere-specific proteins will be discussed.