Increasing Telomere Length

A telomere is described as a region of repetitive nucleotide sequences that is found at both ends of a chromatid (Rufer, Dragowska, Thornbury, Roosneck, & Lansdorp, 1998)1. Nucleotides are organic molecules such as DNA or RNA and can contain the genetic codes for life, health, and longevity. A chromatid is a copy of chromosome which is joined in the form of an “x ” to another chromosome by a central structure called a centromere. Telomeres function to protect chromosomes from deteriorating or fusing with adjacent chromosomes during cell division, or mitosis (Rufer, Dragowska, Thornbury, Roosneck, & Lansdorp, 1998)2. Telomeres also prevent the degradation of genes located close to the end of chromosomes by allowing the ends to shorten during replication (Rufer, Dragowska, Thornbury, Roosneck, & Lansdorp, 1998)3. Without telomeres, chromosomes would lose vital information located at their ends during cell division (Rufer, Dragowska, Thornbury, Roosneck, & Lansdorp, 1998)4, but the necessary shortening of the telomere has also been discovered to be the ticking of the “death clock”. As the telomere shortens, the cell prepares to die. Telomerase and telomere length Telomeres get consumed during cell division and, therefore, act as buffers by blocking off chromosome ends. Telomeres are replenished by the action of the enzyme telomerase reverse transcriptase, which is also called “telomerase ” (Xu, Duc, Holcman, & Teixeira, 2013)5. The absence or diminishing levels of telomerase has been associated with the gradual shortening of telomeres (Xu, Duc, Holcman, & Teixeira, 2013)6. Numerous studies have established a linkage between cellular aging and telomere shortening (Xi, Li, Ren, Zhang, & Zhang, 2013)7. In addition, telomere attrition (or shortening) has been observed to be age-related and this has been established as critical factor in the aging process, as well as in the occurrence of many age-relate