Abstract
Telomeres are specialized nucleoprotein structures that stabilize the ends of linear eukaryotic chromosomes. In mammalian cells, abrogation of telomeric repeat binding factor TRF2 or DNA-dependent protein kinase (DNA-PK) activity causes end-to-end chromosomal fusion, thus establishing an essential role for these proteins in telomere function. Here we show that TRF2-mediated end-capping occurs after telomere replication. The postreplicative requirement for TRF2 and DNA-PKcs, the catalytic subunit of DNA-PK, is confined to only haft of the telomeres, namely, those that were produced by leading-strand DNA synthesis. These results demonstrate a crucial difference in postreplicative processing of telomeres that is linked to their mode of replication.
Original language | English (US) |
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Pages (from-to) | 2462-2465 |
Number of pages | 4 |
Journal | Science |
Volume | 293 |
Issue number | 5539 |
DOIs | |
State | Published - Sep 28 2001 |
Externally published | Yes |
ASJC Scopus subject areas
- General