A common weed and human cancer cells could provide some very uncommon details about DNA structure and its relationship with telomeres and how they affect cellular aging and cancer, according to a team led by scientists from Texas A&M University and the University of Cincinnati (UC). For the study, the multi-institutional team examined the telomeres of Arabidopsis, a plant found throughout the world, and discovered a new set of essential telomere proteins. The team then identified the human counterpart, a discovery that could be beneficial in understanding human cancers and cellular aging. Their work is published in the current issue of the journal "Molecular Cell" and was funded by the National Institutes of Health. Dorothy Shippen, professor of biophysics and biochemistry at Texas A&M, and Carolyn Price, professor of cancer and cell biology at the UC College of Medicine, served as co-corresponding authors of the study. Telomeres are located at each end of a chromosome and are composed of DNA and protein. Their main function is to protect the ends of the chromosome, but they also play a key role in cell division. Researchers also believe they play a key role in cellular lifespan. "We found that removal of the plant telomere proteins caused rampant end-to-end joining of chromosomes and dramatic defects in plant development," explains Shippen. "The Cincinnati team then showed that removal of one of the human proteins from human cancer cells caused wide-spread DNA damage and complete loss of some telomeres."
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