Tell Me More About Telomeres

In each SNiP or “Small News in Pieces” we highlight exciting research articles we’ve come across that feature Mirus Bio products… in bite-size pieces. Today, we SNiP a fascinating article about telomeres.

In 1938, Dr. Hermann Muller introduced the word telomere (from Greek telos ‘end’ and meros ‘part’), musing that “for some reason a chromosome cannot persist indefinitely without having its ends thus ‘sealed.’ This gene may accordingly be distinguished by a special term, the ‘telomere’ (applied by myself and Darlington, and by Haldane, independently).”¹

Our understanding of how telomeres protect chromosomal ends from degradation and unwanted DNA recombination and fusion events now incorporates the aptly named protein complex shelterin, which includes the components TRF1 and TRF2.²

Jack et al. used a biophysical approach to interrogate the role of the shelterin complex in telomere liquid-liquid phase separation, which is hypothesized to compartmentalize and protect telomeres in the cellular milieu.

Citation

Title: Compartmentalization of telomeres through DNA-scaffolded phase separation

Authors: Amanda Jack, Yoonji Kim et al.
Journal: Developmental Cell, Volume 57, 24 Jan 2022.
DOI: 10.1016/j.devcel.2021.12.017
Product Usage: TransIT®-293 Transfection Reagent was used to produce lentivirus for transduction of U2OS and hTERT-RPE1 in cell imaging experiments. Label IT® Nucleic Acid Labeling Kit, Cy®3 was used to label and fluorescently track telomeric DNA and RNA substrates.

Looking for more? Dive in to the Mirus Bio Citations Database for publications showcasing transfection of a myriad of cell lines.