Thaindian News

London, June 12 (IANS) Bits of DNA could help understand how disease develops in an organism.
Researchers at the University of Leicester (UL) are examining how telomeres, a repeating sequence of DNA that varies in length between individuals, may bring on diseases associated with ageing and, perhaps most importantly, the development of cancer.

These structures are known to shrink in length over one’s lifetime. The study is trying to understand how this process can be controlled.

The research is being conducted by Jonathan Williams from UL’s department of genetics.

“DNA in human cells is arranged into 46 linear structures known as chromosomes. The ends of these molecules are particularly prone to damage from the environment inside the cell, and thus have special structures, termed telomeres, to protect them,” Williams said.

Important research over a number of years has shown that these structures shrink in length over an individual’s lifetime and that this may contribute to several diseases.

Telomere shortening can be reversed in two specific ways. A protein termed telomerase can directly add new DNA to the end of telomeres.

The second method, which is much less understood, most likely involves the copying of information from one telomere to another.

“One of these methods must be activated during cancer development. The mechanisms controlling telomere length and the pathways reversing shortening largely remain a mystery,” Williams said. “Now we are studying the ways in which changes to the chemical structure of DNA itself may control the lengthening of telomeres,” he added.

“Although these studies remain in their early stages, it is hoped that the results may provide a better understanding of how the maintenance of telomeres is controlled, perhaps allowing for more targeted therapies for telomere associated disease in the future,” Williams said, according to an UL release.

Williams will present his research at UL’s Festival of Postgraduate Research June 24.