Mendel Centre for Plant Genomics and Proteomics, Central European Institute of Technology (CEITEC), Masaryk University, Brno, Czech Republic.
National Centre for Biomolecular Research, Faculty of Science, Masaryk University, Brno, Czech Republic.
Methods Mol Biol. 2023;2672:285-302. doi: 10.1007/978-1-0716-3226-0_18.
Telomeres are essential nucleoprotein structures at the very ends of linear eukaryote chromosomes. They shelter the terminal genome territories against degradation and prevent the natural chromosome ends from being recognized by repair mechanisms as double-strand DNA breaks.There are two basic characteristics of telomeric DNA, its sequence and its length. The telomere sequence is important as a "landing area" for specific telomere-binding proteins, which function as signals and moderate the interactions required for correct telomere function. While the sequence forms the proper "landing surface" of telomeric DNA, its length is similarly important. Too short or exceptionally long telomere DNA cannot perform its function properly. In this chapter, methods for the investigation of these two basic telomere DNA characteristics are described, namely, telomere motif identification and telomere length measurement.
端粒是线性真核生物染色体末端的重要核蛋白结构。它们保护末端基因组区域免受降解，并防止自然染色体末端被修复机制识别为双链 DNA 断裂。端粒 DNA 有两个基本特征，即其序列和长度。端粒序列作为特定端粒结合蛋白的“着陆区”很重要，这些蛋白作为信号，调节正确端粒功能所需的相互作用。虽然序列形成了端粒 DNA 的适当“着陆表面”，但其长度同样重要。过短或异常长的端粒 DNA 无法正常发挥其功能。本章描述了研究这两个基本端粒 DNA 特征的方法，即端粒基序识别和端粒长度测量。
