Telomeres: at the heart of the aging process

What are telomeres?

In the nucleus of each of the billions of cells that compose our bodies, chromosomes make up DNA. At the end of every chromosome, you can find small structures called telomeres. They progressively get shorter with time, and their length can be linked to age.

Telomeres are ribonucleoprotein complexes found at the extremities of chromosomes. They correspond to tandem repetitions of nucleotide sequences (TTTAGG) that shrink with each cellular replication. Throughout life, cells multiply. They accumulate cycles of division and replication, in order to renew damaged cells and tissue. In an aged organism, that is when telomere shortening occurs [1]. In this article, we will be looking at the way telomeres work and at the impact of their shortening on the body as a whole.