Functional eukaryotic chromosomes contain stretches of DNA harboring specialized nucleotide sequences. Which of the following represents the type of DNA sequence that prevents the strands from becoming shorter with each replication cycle?

Question

Quizplus · Accepted Answer

Telomeres are repetitive nucleotide sequences at the ends of eukaryotic chromosomes that protect them from deterioration or fusion with neighboring chromosomes, thus preventing the strands from becoming shorter with each replication cycle.  A telomere is a region of repetitive nucleotide sequences at the end of each chromosome. The telomere protects the end of the chromosome from deterioration or from fusion with neighboring chromosomes. Without telomeres, the chromosomes would progressively lose DNA and be truncated after each cell division because the synthesis of the lagging strands of the duplex requires RNA primers to be placed ahead of the synthesizing DNA. Over time, due to each cell division, the telomere ends become shorter.

Functional Eukaryotic Chromosomes Contain Stretches of DNA Harboring Specialized Nucleotide