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Telomerase
What is Telomerase and would you like to live forever? Hmm, maybe if you are a lobster…
Telomerase or Telomeres are distinctive structures found at the ends of our own chromosomes.
Chromosomes are threadlike structures made of protein and a single molecule of DNA that serve to carry the genomic information from cell to cell. In plants and animals (including humans), chromosomes reside in the nucleus of cells. Humans have 22 pairs of numbered chromosomes (autosomes) and one pair of sex chromosomes (XX or XY), for a total of 46. Each pair contains two chromosomes, one coming from each parent, which means that children inherit half of their chromosomes from their mother and half from their father.
National Human Genome Institue (NIH.) 4th October 2022.
Telomerase is an enzyme found inside our cells, which may be related to the aging process. Scientists believe that the loss of telomeres leads to eventual loss of important, coding regions of deoxyribonucleic acid (DNA) and that this impairs cells’ ability to divide and produce healthy daughter cells over time.
Which, if you are seeing the bigger picture you will begin to have an idea of why humans age.
