IUBio

DNA

Charles Carter ccarter2 at mustang.uwo.ca
Wed Dec 6 22:13:34 EST 1995


Etha Schlemermeyer <etha at genectr.hunter.cuny.edu> wrote:
>Can somebody hint me in the right
>direction where to look:
>I would like to read up on the
>phenomen of DNA somethings (sorry
>I forgot) that gets broken off every
>time a cell replicates. So that the
>"end" of that cells replication 
>ability is determined by these
>appendages. Maybe someone knows
>what I mean.
>
>Thanks,
>
>
>Etha

Hi Etha,
   I'm not sure if anyone responded to this yet but I know a bit about 
the subject so I'll reply anyway.  Each time your chromosomes replicate, 
one of the strands of your chromosomes (they are double stranded) 
shortens a little bit (for reasons you may or may not want me to go 
into).  An enzyme in the cell called Telomerase compensates for this loss 
by adding extra bases to the DNA in reproductive cells, but this 
phenomenon isn't found in somatic cells.  Any biochemistry textbook 
should provide at least a few pages on the subjec, such as:
  
Molecular and Cellular Biology: Stephen L. Wolfe.  Wadsworth publishing 
company. 1993.  Pages 971-975.

- I hope this helps a little, and I hope that I don't find your question 
was already answered which would mean I'd have to figure out how to 
delete this!
  
-Chuck






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