J Korean Soc Pediatr Nephrol.  2008 Apr;12(1):1-10.

Back to the Ends: Chromosomal DNA

Affiliations
  • 1Department of Biochemistry, College of Medicine, Pochun CHA University, Bungdang, Korea. dcsuh@hanmail.net

Abstract

Nucleic scids transfer the genetic information for serving a central biological purpose. The nucleic acids are polymers of nucleotides and they are mainly ribonucleic acid(RNA) and deoxyribonucleic acid(DNA). The nucleotides are stoichiometrically composed of five-carbon sugars, nitrogeneous bases, and phosphoric acids. The chemistry of nucleic acids and characteristics of different genomes are decribed for further study. Most of DNA genomes tend to be circular including bacterial genomes and eukaryotic mitochondrial DNA. Eukaryotic chromosomes in cells, in contrast, are generally linear. The ends of linear chromosomes are called telomeres. The genomes of different species, such as mammals, plants, invertebrates can be compared with the chromosome ends. The telomeric complex allows cells to distinguish the random DNA breaks and natural chromosomal ends. The very ends of chromosomes cannot be replicated by any ordinary mechanisms. The shortening of telomeric DNA templates in semiconservative replication is occurred with each cell division. The short telomere length is critically related to aging, tumors and dieases.

Keyword

Chromosomal ends; Telomeric DNA; Mitochondrial genome

MeSH Terms

Aging
Carbohydrates
Cell Division
DNA
DNA Breaks
DNA, Mitochondrial
Genome
Genome, Bacterial
Genome, Mitochondrial
Invertebrates
Mammals
Nitrogen
Nucleic Acids
Nucleotides
Phosphoric Acids
Polymers
Telomere
Carbohydrates
DNA
DNA, Mitochondrial
Nitrogen
Nucleic Acids
Nucleotides
Phosphoric Acids
Polymers
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