In human germline cells, these contain 1000 to 170
In human germline cells, these contain 1000 to 1700 copies of the hexameric nucleotide sequence T-T-A-G-G-G. They are thought to be responsible for maintaining chromosomal integrity by protecting against DNA degradation or rearrangement. Upon cell replication, 50-nucleotide portions are lost from each end of the DNA stand. Because somatic cells lack the enzyme to replace the nucleotides, their length is slowly reduced. For ten points, name these long, non-coding segments of DNA, the loss of which causes chromosome instability and cell death.
In human germline cells, these contain 1000 to 1700 copies of the hexameric nucleotide sequence T-T-A-G-G-G.
{Telomeres}