Telomere length constancy during aging of Saccharomyces cerevisiae.

It has been proposed that a decrease in the length of telomeres with the successive rounds of DNA replication that accompany mitotic division could play a causal role in the aging process. To investigate this possibility, telomeres from cells of the budding yeast Saccharomyces cerevisiae that varied in replicative age were examined. No change in the lengths of the telomeres was observed in cells that had completed up to 83% of the mean life span. We conclude that the length of the telomeres is not a contributing factor in the natural aging process in individual yeast cells.