Do 9th blog in GENOME
In this chapter, Matt Ridley talks about the immortality of cells and how most humans want to live until their old age. At the beginning of the chapter, it talks about how James Watson discovered that polymerases starts copying DNA part-way. The chromosome part of telomere is left off each time DNA is replicated. Telomerase is an enzyme that encourages cell growth. Telomeres function by preventing chromosomes from losing base pair sequences at their ends. They also stop chromosomes from fusing to each other. Cancer Cells are responsible for turning on this enzyme when its off in the majority of the cells. The author then talks about how he believes cancer is linked to age because the most frequent cancer sites have tissues that rapidly divide their cells. Telomerase increases growth of many tumors, which leads to malignant cell formation. Cancer cells have unique features that make them immortal and that is why this chapter is called "Immortality".
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