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Telomere’s Structure and Function

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Encyclopedia of Malaria

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Synonyms

Chromosomal termini; Chromosome ends

Definition

Telomeres are specialized protein-DNA structures that protect chromosome ends from degradation and fusion, and are essential for complete replication of chromosomes. Plasmodium telomeres are of particular interest as they provide a functional and structural support for antigenic variation and evolution of subtelomeric virulence gene families.

Introduction

Telomeres are the physical ends of linear eukaryotic chromosomes. This name is derived from the Greek words telos and meros, that is, “end” and “part.” In molecular terms, the telomere is the DNA repeats at the chromosome termini and the proteins that bind specifically to those sequences. These protein-DNA structures protect all chromosome ends from degradation and fusion and are vital for complete replication of chromosomes (De Lange et al. 2006).

Telomeric DNA is typically composed of TG-rich short repetitive sequences, being the TTAGGG repeat the most prevalent. The length of...

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Author information

Authors and Affiliations

  1. Instituto de Medicina Molecular, Faculdade de Medicina da Universidade de Lisboa, Av. Prof. Egas Moniz, 1649-028, Lisbon, Portugal

    Liliana Mancio-Silva

  2. Département de Parasitologie et Mycologie, Unité de Biologie des Interactions Hôte-Parasite, Institut Pasteur, F-75724, Paris, France

    Jose Juan Lopez-Rubio

Authors
  1. Liliana Mancio-Silva
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  2. Jose Juan Lopez-Rubio
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Corresponding author

Correspondence to Jose Juan Lopez-Rubio .

Editor information

Editors and Affiliations

  1. Heswall, United Kingdom

    Marcel Hommel

  2. Institut für Tropenmedizin, Universität Tübingen, Tübingen, Germany

    Peter G. Kremsner

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Mancio-Silva, L., Lopez-Rubio, J.J. (2013). Telomere’s Structure and Function. In: Hommel, M., Kremsner, P. (eds) Encyclopedia of Malaria. Springer, New York, NY. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-1-4614-8757-9_46-1

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  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/978-1-4614-8757-9_46-1

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  • Online ISBN: 978-1-4614-8757-9

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