Stress induced telomere shortening: longer life with less mutations?

ABSTRACT:

Background

Mutations accumulate as a result of DNA damage and imperfect DNA repair machinery. In higher eukaryotes the accumulation and spread of mutations is limited in two primary ways: through p53-mediated programmed cell death and cellular senescence mediated by telomeres. Telomeres shorten at every cell division and cell stops dividing once the shortest telomere reaches a critical length. It has been shown that the rate of telomere attrition is accelerated when cells are exposed to DNA damaging agents. However the implications of this mechanism are not fully understood.

Results

With the help of in silico model we investigate the effect of genotoxic stress on telomere attrition and apoptosis in a population of non-identical replicating cells. When comparing the populatio

SUBMITTER: Trusina A 

PROVIDER: S-EPMC4015310 | biostudies-literature | 2014 Mar

REPOSITORIES: biostudies-literature