Starting at the end: Telomeres and telomerase in arthropods

Abstract

Telomere composition and structure have been studied in several arthropods allowing us to better understand the evolution of such an important portion of the eukaryotic chromosomes. Genes coding for telomerase reverse transcriptase (TERT) have been sequenced and studied in few arthropod species only, where they resulted highly transcribed also in somatic tissues suggesting a different TERT regulation in respect to vertebrates. Contrary to the strict conservation of telomeres, subtelomeric regions were more polymorphic and heterogeneous in composition and frequently contained retrotransposable elements that strongly influenced subtelomere evolution.