Abstract

A highly conserved repetitive DNA sequence, (TTAGGG)n, has been isolated from a human recombinant repetitive DNA library. Quantitative hybridization to chromosomes sorted by flow cytometry indicates that comparable amounts of this sequence are present on each human chromosome. Both fluorescent in situ hybridization and BAL-31 nuclease digestion experiments reveal major clusters of this sequence at the telomeres of all human chromosomes. The evolutionary conservation of this DNA sequence, its terminal chromosomal location in a variety of higher eukaryotes (regardless of chromosome number or chromosome length), and its similarity to functional telomeres isolated from lower eukaryotes suggest that this sequence is a functional human telomere.

Keywords

TelomereBiologyRepeated sequenceDNAChromosomeGeneticsConserved sequenceRecombinant DNAEukaryotic chromosome fine structureMolecular biologyHuman genomeDNA sequencingGenomeGeneBase sequence

Affiliated Institutions

Related Publications

Publication Info

Year
1988
Type
article
Volume
85
Issue
18
Pages
6622-6626
Citations
2330
Access
Closed

External Links

View on DOI.org

Social Impact

Altmetric
PlumX Metrics

Social media, news, blog, policy document mentions

Citation Metrics

2330
OpenAlex

Cite This

Robert K. Moyzis, Judy M. Buckingham, L. Scott Cram et al. (1988). A highly conserved repetitive DNA sequence, (TTAGGG)n, present at the telomeres of human chromosomes.. Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences , 85 (18) , 6622-6626. https://doi.org/10.1073/pnas.85.18.6622

Identifiers

DOI
10.1073/pnas.85.18.6622